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THE 


LANDING  AT  CAPE  ANNE. 


THE 


LANDING  AT  CAPE  ANNE; 


OR 


THE  CHARTER 


OF      THE 


FIRST   PERMANENT   COLONY   ON   THE    TERRITORY 
OF  THE  MASSACHUSETTS  COMPANY. 

NOW  DISCOVERED  AND  FIRST  PUBLISHED  FROM 

€^t  (li)rtgiiial  HanuHrrift. 

WITH    AN    INQUIRY    INTO    ITS    AUTHOBITY    AND 

A  HISTORY  OF  THE  COLONY. 

1624-1628. 
ROGER  CONANT,  GOVERNOR. 


JOHN    WINGATE    THORNTON, 

"OBSCURA    PRO  MENS." 


BOSTON: 
GOULD     AND     LINCOLN 

NEW  YORK: 
SUELDON,  LAMPORT,  AND  BLAKE  MAN. 

1854. 


^^ 


Entered  according  to  Act  of  Congress,  in  the  year  1854,  by 
GOULD    AND     LINCOLN, 

In  the  Clerk's  Office  of  the  District  Court  of  the  District  of  Massachusetts. 


TBDRSTON   AND  TOKRT,  PRINTbKS. 


"  Apollos   watered,  but  Paul  planted  ;    he  that  begun  the  worke  was 

THE     GREATER     MAN.       .       .       .       YoU     SHALL     HAVE    MADB     THIS     ISLAND,    [EnGLANU] 
WHICH    IS    but    as    the    SUBURBS     OF    THE     OlD    WoRLD,    A    BrJDGE,    A    GaLLERY     TO 

THE  New  ;    to   joyne  all  to  that  world  that  shall  never  grow  old,  the 
KiNGDOME  OF  Heaven.     You  shall  add  persons  to  this  Kingdome,  and  to  the 

KlNGDOiME   OF   HeAVEN,    AND    NAMES   TO    THE   BOOKES    OF   OUR    CHRONICLES,    AND   TO 
THE   BOOKE   OF   LiFE." 

Dr.  John  Donne's  Sermon  to  the  "Honorable  Virginian  Company, ''  Nov.  13,  1C22. 


"Let  IT  NOT  BE  GRIEVOUS  TO  YOU,  THAT  YOU  HAVE  BEEN  INSTRUMENTS  TO 
BREAK  THE  ICE  70R  OTHERS  WHO  COME  AFTER  WITH  LESS  DIFFICULTY  :  THE  HONOR 
SHALL   BE   YOURS   TO   THE  WORLD'S  END." 

Letter  to  the  Plymouth  Planters.  —  1623. 


"  Small  things  in  the   beginning  op   natural   or   politic   bodies   are  as 
remarkable  as  greater  in  bodies  pull  grown." 

Dudley's  Letter  to  Lady  Bridgett,  Countess  o^f  Lincoln,  March  12,  1C31. 


"My   hold   of   the    colonies    is    in    the  close     affection   which     grows     FROM 
COMMON     NAMES,     FROM     KINORED     BLOOD,    FROM     SIMJLAR     PRIVILEGES     AND     EQUAL 

PROTECTION.    These  are  ties  which,  though  light  as  air,  are  as  strong  as 

LINKS    of    iron." 

Burke's  Speech  on  Conciliation  with  j.iinerica,  1773. 


PREFACE. 


As  the  geologist  discovers  vestiges  of  the  primitive  globe  and  its 
inhabitants  in  the  pebble  and  the  fossil,  as  the  geographer  explores 
great  rivers  back  to  mountain  rivulets,  so  the  historian  finds  eloquent 
witnesses  of  former  generations  in  crumbling  monuments  and  obscure 
parchments,  and  traces  national  greatness  to  its  beginning.  Thus  the 
incidents  in  the  early  lives  of  the  good  and  great  are  gleaned  with 
interest  and  veneration,  and  the  events  in  the  dawn  of  a  nation's 
existence  are  clothed  with  dignity  and  importance,  proportionate  to  its 
after  intelligence  and  greatness. 

The  distinct  and  authentic  history  of  the  planting  and  growth  of 
the  American  colonies,  peculiar  to  us,  in  contrast  with  the  legendary 
and  obscure  origin  of  many  nations  in  the  Old  World,  has  ever 
afforded  satisfaction  to  the  philosopher  and  historian,  and  whatever 
tends  to  its  completeness,  will  be  received  with  interest. 

The  following  pages  prove  that  Massachusetts  begins  her  history 
not  at  Salem,  nor  under  the  patronage  of  the  organization  which 
obtained  the  charter  of  March,  Anno  1627-8,  but  in  the  spring  of 
the  year  1624,  at  Cape  Anne,  where  the  colony  was  established 
under  the  authority  of  this  her  first  charter  the  very  initial  of  her 
annals  —  now  first  presented  to  the  public. 

It  is  venerable,  as  the  historical  foundation  of  the  Society  or  State, 
which,  continuing  under  various  charters  and  titles,  in  the  year  1780, 
adopted  the  name  of  the  Commonwealth  of  Massachusetts. 


"V'ln  PREFACE. 

It  is  remarkable  as  guaranteeing  the  principles  of  free  government 
vindicated  in  the  Revolutionary  struggle;  that  tiie  government  is  of, 
from  and  for  the  individual,  the  people,  the  body  politic,  and  not 
they  for  the  government.  From  the  recognition  or  denial  of  this 
principle,  results  freedom,  or  despotism. 

This  venerable  instrument  opens  to  the  mind  a  vision  of  the  past, 
and  in  the  quiet  depths  of  thought,  those  obscure  but  mighty  men, 
now  men  of  renown,  rise  from  their  tombs ;  and  we  feel  as  it  were 
that  our  lives  are  united  with  theirs,  while  we  study  the  privileges 
that  encouraged  their  hearts,  lighted  their  future  with  hope,  and 
supported  their  onward  steps.  This  tract  relates  to  the  first  colonial 
lustre  —  the  period  commenced  under  the  authority  of  this,  the  first* 
or  Cape  Anne  charter,  and  embraced  in  the  years  1624  to  1629. 

The  parchment  was  in  the  possession  of  the  Hon.  Paul  Dudley, 
F.  R.  S.,  Chief  Justice  of  Massachusetts,  son  of  the  younger  Governor 
Dudley,  who  may  have  received  it  from  his  father.  Gov.  Thomas 
Dudley.  The  narrative,  written  more  than  a  year  since,  has  been 
enlarged,  developing  more  fully  the  authority  on  which  the  char- 
ter  was  issued. 

My  thanks  are  due  to  Rev.  Joseph  B.  Felt,  for  his  aid  and  for 
valuable  original  documents  in  the  Appendix.  Several  of  the  scarce 
works  cited,  were  from  the  library  of  my  friend,  Charles  Deane,  Esq., 
whose  familiarity  with  this  period  of  American  history,  has  been 
of  much  service  in  editing  the  charter. 

J.  WINGATE  THORNTON. 
Boston,  October,  1854. 


CONTENTS. 


CHAPTER    I. 

RIGHT      BY     DISCOVERY EARLY     VOYAGES COLONIES     PROJECTED  

TINSUCCESSFUL  THE     VIRGINIA     COMPANY     CREATED      1606  KING 

JAMES'    ILL    BEHAVIOR VIEWS    OF    THE    ADVENTURERS.  .         1-7 


CHAPTER    II. 

REASONS    FOR    CREATING    A    NEW    COMPANY THE     PLYMOUTH    COUNCIL 

INCORPORATED     IN      1620  ITS     POWERS  ITS     POLITICAL     IMPOR- 
TANCE —  PARLIAMENTARY     DIFFICULTIES  PROPOSED     DIVISION     OF 

TERRITORY     AMONG     THE     PATENTEES  PLAN     OF     DIVISION  PRO- 
PRIETORS'   NAMES ROYAL  SANCTION    OBTAINED LORD  SHEFFEILD's 

TITLE 8-16 


CHAPTER    III. 

WRIOTHESLEY,    EARL     OF     SOUTHAMPTON,    THE     PATRON    OF     BARTHOLO- 
MEW   GOSNOLU  GOSNOLD     SAILS     FOR     NORTH    VIRGINIA,     IN     BIAY, 

1602 DISCOVERS     CAPE     ANNE NAMES     CAPE    COD VISITS     MAR- 

TIJa's    VINEYARD  —  BUILDS    A    pOUT    AT     ELIZABETH'S     ISLAND CAP- 


C  O  N  T  E  N  T  S  . 

TAIN     JOHN     SMITH    VISITS    AND    NAMES     NEW    ENGLAND,    IN    1614 

MASSACHUSETTS     ESTEEMED    A    PARADISE  IT     IS     VISITED     BY     THE 

PLYMOUTH      COLONISTS  SOME      OF      THE     COLONISTS      REMOVE      TO 

NANTASKET  ROGER     CONANT  BAD     CONDUCT     AND     DISGRACE     OF 

LYFORD   AND    OLDHAM 17-27 


CHAPTEE    IV. 

PLYMOUTH    COLONY    SENDS    WINSLOW    AS    AGENT     TO     ENGLAND FAME 

OF    THE    COLONY    IN     ENGLAND REV.    JOHN    WHITE    OF    DORCHESTER. 

LORD    SHEFFEILD    BECOMES     INTERESTED GRANTS    A   PATENT    FOR 

CAPE     ANNE COPY     OF     THE     CHARTER CAPE     ANNE      OCCUPIED 

FAILURE   OF    EFFORTS  AT   CAPE  ANNE DISAFFECTION  OF  THE  LONDON 

MERCHANT     ADVENTURERS LEVETT's     ACCOUNT    OF     PLYMOUTH     AND 

CAPE    ANNE    IN    1624 28-38 


CHAPTER    V. 


PURITANISM  IN  ENGLAND BISHOP  LAKE  AND    REV.  JOHN  WHITE    FAVOR 

NEW  ENGLAND REASONS  FOR  COLONIZING THE  DORCHESTER  COM- 
PANY  THEY  ESTABLISH  A  COLONY  AT  CAPE  ANNE  UNDER  THE  SHEF- 
FEILD CHARTER ROGER  CONANT  APPOINTED  GOVERNOR HOSTILITY 

OF    LONDON  MERCHANTS THEIR  AGENT  HEWES  MAKES  REPRISALS  OF 

PLYMOUTH    PROPERTY    AT    CAPE    ANNE GOVERNOR    CONANT    EFFECTS 

PEACE 39-47 


CHAPTER    VI. 

REVERSES    AT    CAPS    ANNE LOSSES THE     MERCHANTS    ABANDON    THE 

COLONY THE     COLONY     PURGED     OF     ITS    WORTHLESS     MEMBERS 

GOV.    CONANT    PREVENTS    ITS     DISSOLUTION THE    COLONY    REMOVED 

TO    NAUMKEAG INDIAN     HOSPITALITY -^  GOV.     CONANt's     FIRMNESS 

SAVES    THE     COLONY JOHN     WOODBERY     SENT     AS     AGENT    TO    ENG- 
LAND  48-53 


CONTENTS.  XI 


CHAPTER    VII. 

THE    COLONY    IN     1627 GOV.    CONANt's    CHARACTER    AND    SERVICES 

WOODBERy's     mission    to    ENGLAND FINDS     MEMBERS    OF    THE    OLD 

DORCHESTER     COMPANY A    NEW  COMPANY    ORGANIZED A     PATENT 

OBTAINED THOMAS  DUDLEY,  ESQ.  AND  HIS  FRIENDS  BECOME  INTER- 
ESTED  THE  COMPANY  HAD  NO  DEFINITE  NAME HUMBLE  BEGIN- 
NING OF  THE  STATE  RECORDS WOODBERY's  RETURN  TO  THE  COL- 
ONY  CHARACTER   OF    THE    COMPANY   IN  ENGLAND JOHN    ENDECOTT 

ARRIVES    AT    SALEM   AND    SUPERSEDES      CONANT NEW     IMPULSE     TO 

COLONIZATION 54-60 


CHAPTER    VIII. 


REASONS     FOR     OBTAINING    THE     KING's     AFFIRMATION    OF    THE    PATENT 

DISTINCTION     BETWEEN     THE     COMPANY      IN     ENGLAND     AND      THE 

COLONY CRADOCK      NOT     GOVERNOR      OF     THE     COLONY CHARTER 

SENT    TO    ENDECOTT UNION    OF    THE     OLD     AND    NEW    PLANTERS  

NAMES    OF    THE    PIONEERS DISPUTES    BETWEEN    THE    OLD    AND  NEW 

COLONISTS DANGERS     OF     THE     COLONY OLDHAm's     INTRIGUES 

gorges'   CONFLICTING  PATENT GOVERNOR    CONANT  RESTORES  PEACE 

INJUSTICE    TO    CONANT    AND    HIS    ASSOCIATES ALLEVIATING    CON- 
SIDERATIONS  CHARACTERS  OF  CONANT  AND  ENDECOTT COBIPANy's 

VINDICATION HARDSHIPS    OF   THE    OLD    PLANTERS.  .       .       61-68 


CHAPTER    IX. 


KECAPITULATION  —  THE  HISTORICAL    IDENTITY  OF  THE  COLONY — SERIES 

OF  GOVERNORS    AND    CHARTERS CHARACTER    OF    THE    NEW  ENGLAND 

COLONISTS THE     FATHERS     QUOTED NEW     ENGLAND     SETTLED    BY 

FUGITIVES    FROM     OPPRESSION PRELACY     DRIVEN     FROM    PLYMOUTH 

AND  FROM  SALEM ITS  BANISHMENT  NECESSARY  TO  THEIR  SELF- 
PRESERVATION —  VIEWS     OF     THE     FOUNDERS     OF     NEW     ENGLAND 

TOLERATION  NOT  PROFESSED DANGER  FROM  POPERY THE  PURI- 
TANS ESTABLISHED  THE  ENGLISH  CONSTITUTION  AND  THE  AMERICAN 
REPUBLIC 6U-76 


Xll  CONTENTS. 


APPENDIX. 

I.  Notice  of  lord  Sheffield 77 

II.  Deposition*  OF  richakd  brackenbury 79 

III.  Deposition  of  -^\-illiam  dixy 81 

IV.  Deposition  of  Humphry  woodbery 81 

V.  John  j.  babson,  esq  ,  on  the  locality  of  the  colony  at 

cape    ANNE 83 


TH  E 


LANDING  AT  CAPE  ANNE 


CHAPTEE    I. 

EIGHT      BY     DISCOVERY EARLY     VOYAGES COLONIES     PROJECTED  

UNSUCCESSFUL  THE     VIRGINIA     COMPANY     CREATED      1606  KING 

JAMES's    ILL    BEHAVIOR VIEWS    OF   THE   ADVENTURERS. 

A  GLANCE  at  the  earlier  attempts  at  northern  coloni- 
zation, and  the  several  divisions  and  grants  of  the 
American  coast,  will  show  the  proximate  sources  of 
authority  whence  the  charter  of  Cape  Anne  was  de- 
rived. 

Upon  the  discovery  of  America,  the  European  govern- 
ments established  the  principle  that 

"  All  a  man  sail'd  by  or  saw  was  his  own  ; " 

that  the  nation  discovering  the  territory  should  have 
the  exclusive  right  to  acquire  the  soil  from  the  natives, 
which  title  might  be  consummated  by  possession.^ 

Under  this  international  law,  Henry  VII.  on  the  fifth 
of  March,  in  the  year  1496,  authorized^  John  Cabot  and 

»  Chief  Justice  Marshall's  opinion  in  Johnson  ».  IM'Intosh, — a  historical  summary, 
"so  clear  and  exact,"  tliat  Judge  Story  adopted  it  as  the  preliminary  chapter, 
(§§  U  to  38,)  of  his  "  Commentaries  on  the  Constitution."  AVlieaton's  "  Ekments 
of  International  Law,"  ch.  iv.  §§  1-5. 

'  Ryraer's  Foedera,  xii.  folios  595,  5U6,  contains  this  first  English  patent  for  dis- 
covery. 

1 


Z  CABOT  S    FIRST    VOYAGE   TO    AMERICA. 

his  sons  Lewis,  Sebastian,  and  Sancius,  to  sail  under  the 
English  banners  to  the  East,  the  West,  and  the  North,  to 
seek  out  lands  unknown  to  any  Christian  people.  In 
the  next  year,  on  the  twenty-fourth  of  June,  about  five 
of  the  clock,  early  in  the  morning,  Sebastian  Cabot,  in 
the  ship  "Matthew"  of  Bristol,^  first  touched  the  shores 
of  America,  and  in  that  voyage  he  acquired  for  England, 
by  the  right  of  discovery,  her  title  to  all  that  territory 
between  the  point  of  his  first  landing,  in  the  thirty-eighth 
degree  of  north  latitude,  southward  to  sixty-seventh  de- 
gree.^    A  poet  of  the  day  thus  alludes  to  it :  — 

"  What  an  honorable  thynge, 
Both  to  the  Realme  and  to  the  Kynge, 
To  have  had  his  doniynyon  extendynge 
There  into  so  far  a  grounde 
Whiche  the  noble  Kynge  of  late  memory. 
The  most  wyse  prynce  the  VII.  Kerry 
Caused  furst  to  be  founde."  ^ 

A  second  patent  to  John  Cabot,  from  Henry  VII.  issued 
on  the  third  of  February,  in  the  year  1498,  j)ermitted 
him  to  transport  such  of  his  majesty's  subjects  as  might, 
in  the  language  of  the  patent,  "  of  their  owen  free  will 
goo  and  passe  with  him,"  "  to  the  londe  and  isles  of  late 
found."  Three  hundred  men  embarked  in  this  ex- 
pedition, whose  object  was  to  find  out  "what  manner  of 
landes  those  Indies*  were  to  inhabite."     The  particulars 

'  The  name  of  the  other  vessel  is  not  recorded.  They  sailed  from  the  port  of 
Bristol.     Corry's  Hist,  of  Bristol,  1816,  i.  213. 

"^  "  The  ancieht  discovferies,  contracts,  and  agreements,  -which  our  Englishmen  have 
long  since  made  in  those  parts,  together  with  the  acknowledgement  of  the  histories 
and  chronicles  of  other  nations  who  profess  the  land  of  America  from  the  Cape  de 
Florida  unto  the  Bay  of  Canada  (which  is  south  and  north  three  hundred  leagues 
and  upwards  ;  and  east  and  west  further  than  hath  yet  been  discovered)  is  proper 
to  the  King  of  England."     Mourt's  Relation,  16i!2. 

3  Quoted  in  Biddlc's  Memoir  of  Sebastian  Cabot.  London,  1832  ;  2d  ed.,  p.  77, 
note. 

•*  The  "West  Indies"  once  designated  the  whole  of  America.  Herrera  treats 
"  of  the  vast  Continent  and  Islands  of  America,  commonly  called  the  West  Indies." 


CABOT. RALEIGTI. GILBERT.  6 

of  this  voyage  are  not  preserved.  It  certainly  was  un- 
successful, but  is  memorable  as  England's  first  attempt 
in  the  mission  of  civilization  to  America. 

Thus  it  seems  that  Cabot,  who  ranks  second  only  to 
Columbus,  has  the  honor  of  being  the  first  Englishman 
who  jn'ojected  settlements  in  America,  an  historical 
dignity  sometimes  assigned  to  Sir  Walter  Raleigh,  but 
oftener  and  nearer  the  truth,  yet  erroneously,  to  Sir  Hum- 
phrey Gilbert,^  who  has  been  styled  the  "  Father  of  North- 
ern and  North- Western  Civilization."  This  precedence 
belongs  to  Cabot,  though  his  projects  were  unsuccessful." 
Settlements  of  briefs  duration  were  efi'ected  by  Gilbert 
and  Raleigh. 

After  nearly  a  century  of  public  apathy,  the  English 
mind  was  again  directed  to  the  Western  world.  The 
British  Constitution  vests  all  vacant  lands  exclusively  in 
the  sovereign,  whose  sole  prerogative*  it  is  to  dispose  of 
them  to  whom  and  on  such  conditions  as  the  monarch 
thinks  best.  In  the  exercise  of  this  prerogative,  in  the 
year  1578,  on  the  eleventh  of  June,  Queen  Elizabeth 
gave  to  the  illustrious  knight.  Sir  Humphrey  Gilbert, 
authority"  to  discover  any  territory  not  occupied  by  any 


India  is  supposed  to  be  modified  from  Hindoo,  wliose  land  Hindoatan,  the  East, 
Columbus  supposed  he  had  reached  when  he  discovered  America. 

1  Holmes'  Annals,  i.  92,  100,  155  ;  N.  Eng.  Hist.  Gen.  Reg.,  Julj',  1850, 
226,  227. 

2  Cabot's  second  patent  -was  first  published  in  Biddle's  "  Memoir  of  Sebastian 
Cabot,"  to  which  I  am  much  indebted.  I  commend  it  to  the  stijdent's  special 
attention  as  a  very  able  critical  examination  of  the  authorities  on  the  history  of 
maritime  discovery.  Holmes'  Annals,  i.  note  vi.  90,  97,  104,  105.  There  is  a 
learned  review  of  the  volume  in  the  Appendix  to  Harper's  Family  Library, 
No.  53. 

3  Mr.  Nicholas  Thorne,  a  Bristol  merchant,  in  152ii,  sent  an  invoice  of  armor 
and  merchandise  to  T.  Tison,  factor  of  a  commercial  settlement  in  the  West  Indies. 
Holmes'  Annals,  i.  57.- 

■*  Johnson  v.  M'Intosh  ;  8  Wheaton's  U.  S.  Rep. 
*  The  patent  is  in  Stith'a  History  of  Virginia,  p.  4- 


4      NEW  FOUNDLAND. THE  LONDON  COMPANY. 

Christian  power,  and  to  grant  it,  according  to  the  laws 
of  England,  to  snch  of  her  majesty's  subjects,  as  he 
might  induce  to  remove  thither.  Failing  at  the  outset 
of  his  first  voyage,  which  involved  him  in  debt,  he  sailed 
from  the  port  of  Plymouth  in  Devonshire,  and  on  the 
fifth  of  August  took  possession  of  the  port  of  St.  John 
in  New  Foundland,  and  the  adjacent  parts,  for  the 
English  crown.^  Thus  a  period  of  nearly  three  genera- 
tions intervened  between  the  first  and  second  attempts  of 
the  English  to  colonize  America.  Sir  Humphrey  being 
lost  at  sea,  his  patent  was  renewed  to  his  brother,  Sir 
Walter  Kaleigh,  the  founder  of  Virginia.  These  illus- 
trious men,  Cabot,  Gilbert,  and  Raleigh  were  the  founders 
of  the  naval  and  commercial  grandeur  of  England. 

The  titles  under  the  before  mentioned  grants  or  patents 
from  the  English  sovereign,  having  by  forfeiture  or 
the  default  of  the  patentees  reverted  to  the  crown,  the 
monarch,  James  I.  in  the  year  1606,  created  the  first 
corporate  association  for  colonizing  America,  authorizing 
two  councils  ^  of  control,  of  the  first  of  which  most  of  the 
members  resided  m  London,  and  of  the  second,  chiefly  in 
Plymouth.  Three  years  after,  the  former  council  re- 
ceived a  new  charter  of  incorporation  by  the  name  of 
"  The  Treasurer  and  Company  of  Adventurers  and  Plan- 
ters of  the  City  of  London  for  the  first  Colony  in 
Virginia,"  the  name  then  given  to  nearly  the  whole 
coast.^  The  first  council  projected  settlements  in  the 
southern  portion   of  the   territory,  and  was   popularly 


*  Holmes'  American  Annals,  i.  96-101. 

*  Two  companies  are  sometimes  spoken  of,  but  improperly,  as  they  had  but  one 
patent,  creating  one  company,  acting  under  two  councils. 

3  The  Plymouth  colonists  in  their  compact,  1G'20,  said  they  had  undertaken  ••  to 
plant  the  first  colony  in  the  northern  parts  of  Virginia." 


SIR   THOMAS    SMITH. SIR    EDT\IN    SANDYS.  5 

known  as  the  South  Virginia  Company.  Among  its 
members  were  some  of  the  king's  courtiers,  and  in  the 
illegal  and  arbitrary  exercise  of  the  royal  power  in  their 
favor,  he  excited  a  spirit  of  mutual  hostility  between 
himself  and  the  company,^  the  more  irritating,  as  every 
resistance  to  his  despotic  interference  became  politically 
important. 

An  incident  illustrative  of  this  is  here  worthy  of 
notice,  as  one  of  the  difficulties  which  determined  ^  the 
royal  mind  in  favor  of  the  new  organization  of  the 
northern  colonial  interests  in  1620. 

By  their  charter  the  Virginia  Company  had  the  right 
to  choose  their  officers.  Sir  Edwin  Sandys,  their  treas- 
urer in  the  year  1619,  was  the  first  in  the  list  of 
candidates  for  that  office  in  the  next  year.  After  the 
nomination  of  Sandys,  and  as  they  were  proceeding  to 
the  election,  a  message  was  received  from  the  king,  that 
it  was  his  "  pleasure  not  to  have  Sir  Edwin  Sandys 
chosen,  and  nominating  for  the  office  Sir  Thomas  Smith, 
and  one  or  two  others,  one  of  whom  they  might  elect." 
Smith  was  a  royal  favorite.  He  was  appointed  Treasurer 
by  the  king  at  the  organization  of  the  company,  and 
held  the  office  till  being  "notoriously^  infamous  and 
utterly  detested  and  cursed  by  the  whole  company"  for 
his  peculations  and  malfeasance  in  their  aiFairs,  he  was 
superseded  by  Sandys.     Upon  this,  Sir  Edwin  ^  withdrew 

'  Stith's  Hist,  of  Virginia,  168-170,  178,  179, 

'  Spauish  influence  was  the  true  cause  of  James's  conduct.  Peckard's  Life  of 
Ferrar,  85,  8'.)  -  168. 

3  Stith's  Hist,  of  Virginia,  178,  182,  185,  186  ;  Peckard's  Life  of  Ferrar.  A 
portrait  of  Smith  is  in  Thane's  British  Autography,  i.  27. 

*  Soon  after  Sir  Edwin,  •'  being  found  too  daring  and  factious  in  Parliament,"  was 
placed  under  arrest  by  the  king,  for  a  month.  He  was  the  second  son  of  Edwin 
Sandys,  Archbishop  of  York,  was  Prebend  of  York,  1581,  kniglifed  in  1(503, 
author  of  "A  View  of  the  State  Religion  in  tlie  Western  Quarter  of  tiie  World," 
1629,  and  died  at  Northbourn,  Kent,  in  October,  1G2'J.    Tliia  family  was  friendly 


6  SOUTHAMPTON. MOTIVES    TO    COLONIZATION. 

his  name,  and  the  company,  consisting  of  nearly  five 
hundred  persons,  proceeded  to  ballot,  when  of  the  king's 
candidates,  it  was  found  that  one  of  them  had  only  one 
ball  and  the  other  two,  while  Henry,  the  Earl  of  South- 
ampton, who  was  not  the  king's  nominee,  and  no  less 
odious  to  him  than  Sandys,  had  all  the  rest.  The  suc- 
cessful candidate  was  one  of  the  most  influential  patriots 
in  the  House  of  Lords. 

That  distinguished  pioneer  and  most  ardent  friend  of 
colonization,  Captain  John  Smith,  said,  "  I  am  not  so 
simple  as  to  think  that  ever  any  other  motive  than 
wealth  will  ever  erect  there  a  commonwealth,  or  draw 
company  from  their  ease  and  humors  at  home."  ^  The 
expectations  of  those  engaged  in  the  earlier  attempts  to 
colonize  America,  were  almost  as  irrational  as  those 
cherished  a  century  later  by  the  adventurers  in  the 
South  Sea  Bubble  or  the  Mississippi  Scheme.  Sudden 
and  extraordinary  profits  were  looked  for,  and  golden 
visions  allured  men  of  all  ranks !  Among  the  adven- 
turers and  patentees  were  many  of  the  great  peers  of  the 
realm,  of  the  most  eminent  knights,  gentlemen  and 
wealthy  merchants ;  men  of  almost  every  degree  of 
nobility,  and  of  every  profession  and  occupation,  from  the 
merchant  to  the  humblest  artisan,  are  named  in  the 
charter. 


to  the  Pilgrims.  John  Robinson's  Works,  1851,  i.  xxii.,  xxxix.;  Hunter's  Tract. 
"The  Court  and  Times  of  James  the  First,"  London,  1848,  2  vols.,  contains  inter- 
esting cotemporary  notices  of  Sandys ;  in  vol.  i.  61,  314,  320,  325  ;  in  vol.  ii.  222, 
224,  238,  252,  258,  261,  2C6,  412,  444. 

^  Shakspeare's  "  Comedy  of  Errors,"  T^ritten  probably  about  1591,  and  printed 
in  1623,  hands  down  the  popular  impression  of  Auierioa,  the  "form  and  pressure 
of  the  time."  Dromio  describes  Nell's  form  as  "  spherical,  like  a  globe,"  so  that 
*' he  could  find  out  countries  in  her."  Autipholus  inquires  "  Where's  America  ? 
the  Indies  ?  "  Dromio  replies,  "  Oh,  sir,  upon  her  nose,  all  o'er  embellish'd  with 
rubies,  carbuncles,  sapphires,  declining  their  rich  aspect  to  the  hot  breath  of  Spain, 
■who  sent  whole  armadoes  of  carracks  to  be  ballasted  at  her  nose." 


DISAPPOINTMENTS. SIR    FERDINANDO    GORGES.  7 

The  brothers,  Sir  Humphrey  Gilbert  and  Sir  Walter 
Raleigh,  and  their  kindred.  Chief  Justice  Popham,  Sir 
Ferdinando  Gorges,  and  their  families,  and  others,  had 
pursued  the  design  of  colonizing  these  Western  Atlantic 
coasts,  with  a  perseverance  and  assiduity  worthy  of  better 
success. 

Extravagant  hopes,^  the  charms  of  title  and  office,^  the 
allurements  of  gain,  well  supplied  ships,  plentiful  stores 
for  the  colonists,  and  all  the  appliances  of  wealth  and 
power  combined,  yet  proved  ineifectual  in  their  attempts; 
death  removed  some  of  the  most  zealous  and  influential 
patrons,  and  disappointment  waited  on  every  effort. 

But  there  was  one  who  would  not  yield,  and  who, 
during  these  disastrous  years,  with  untiring  diligence  and 
labor,  collected  from  every  source  information  respecting 
the  geography,  climate,  productions,  and  inhabitants  of 
the  new  world ;  and  this  only  suggested  bolder  views 
and  stimulated  him  to  more  comprehensive  measures. 
Next  to  Sir  Humphrey  Gilbert,  Sir  Ferdinando  Gorges 
stands  out  the  most  conspicuous  in  the  history  of  northern 
colonization. 


1  Stith's  Virginia,  43,  77,  81,  82,  101,  149  ;  Smith's  Description  of  New  Eng- 
land, 1G16,  p.  1;  Smith's  Virginia,  ii.  178,  239.  "The  destruction  of  most 
plantations  hath  been  the  base  and  hasty  drawing  of  profits  in  the  first  years." 
Bacon,  "  Of  Plantations." 

2  "  Captain-General,  Lieutenant-General,  Admiral,  High  Marshal,  General  of 
Horse,  were  among  the  ofiices  conferred  in  1609  ;  and  the  like  ambitious  titles 
were  given  by  the  Northern  Company."  Belknap's  Amcr.  Biog.  ii.  99,  154;  Stith, 
101,  137;  "  Brief  Relation  "  of  tiie  Council,  Mass.  Hist.  Coll.,  xix.  21,  23. 


CHAPTER    II. 


REASONS    FOR    CREATING    A    NEW    COMPANY THE     PLYMOUTH   COUNCIL 

INCORPORATED     IN      1620  ITS     POWERS  ITS     POLITICAL     IMPOR- 
TANCE    PARLIAMENTARY     DIFFICULTIES  PROPOSED     DIVISION     OF 

TERRITORY    AMONG     THE     PATENTEES  PLAN     OF     DIVISION  PRO- 
PRIETORS'  NAMES ROYAL  SANCTION    OBTAINED LORD  SHEFFEILD'S 

TITLE. 

Differences  ^  having  arisen  between  the  councils  of 
Northern  and  Southern  Virginia,  Sir  Ferdinando  turned 
the  royal  dissatisfaction  to  the  service  of  the  North.  Ir- 
ritated against  the  London  Company,  by  their  election  of 
the  Earl  of  Southampton,  as  their  treasurer,  in  bold  de- 
fiance of  his  will,  the  jealous  monarch  was  not  unwilling 
to  promote  a  rival  to  the  refractory  company,-  and  readily 

^  See  "  order  in  council  on  tlie  difference  between  tlie  Northern  and  Southern 
Plantations,"  June  18,  1621,  and  another,  Sept.  28,  1621,  "  relative  to  encroach- 
ments on  the  grant  to  the  New  England  Company,"  both  published  in  "Docu- 
ments "  of  "  Colonial  History  of  New  York,"  1853,  toI.  iii-  pp.  4,  6. 

^  Nor  was  his  revenge  —  steadily  pursued  under  the  forms  of  law  —  consummated 
until  full  four  years  had  passed.  One  of  Sir  Thomas  Wentworth's  newsmongers, 
Mr.  Wendesford,  wrote  to  him  on  the  17th  of  June,  1624,  "  Yesterday  Virginia  pa- 
tent was  overthrown  at  King's  Bench,  so  an  end  of  that  plantation's  saving.  Me- 
thinks  I  imagine  the  fraternity  have  before  this  had  a  meeting  of  comfort  and 
consolation,  stirring  up  each  other  to  bear  it  courageously,  and  Sir  Edwin  Sandya 
in  the  midst  of  them,  sadly  sighing  forth,  Oh!  the  burden  of  Virginia!"  Straf- 
ford Papers,  i.  21.  Nicholas  Ferrar  caused  a  certified  copy  of  the  records  to  be 
made;  Stith  says  that  they  hand  down  "  the  full  conviction  of  King  James'  arbitra- 
ry and  oppressive  proceedings  against  the  company,  and  of  his  having  acted  with 
such  mean  arts  and  frauds,  and  such  little  tricking,  as  h-ghly  misbecoming  majes- 
ty." Hist,  of  Virginia,  vi.  vii.  The  secret  of  James'  hostility  was  the  Spanish 
jealousy  and  intrigue,  through  Gondomar,  the  Spanish  ambassador,  whose  influence 
over  the  king  was  almost  absolute.  This  appears  in  Peckard's  Life  of  Ferrar, 
Cambridge,  1791,  pp.  85,  8',)- 168,  a  work  indispensable  to  the  history  of  that 
company.     Read  also  note  1,  p.  101,  vol.  i.  Holmes'  Annals. 


THE   PLYMOUTH    COUNCIL,    ITS    OBJECTS,    ETC.  9 

listened  to  the  suggestions  of  his  "  trusty  and  well-beloved 
servant,  Sir  Ferdinando  Gorges,  Knight,  Captain  of  our 
Fort  and  Island  by  Plymouth,  and  by  certain,  the  princi- 
pal knights  and  gentlemen  adventurers "  of  the  second 
colony,  who  had  lost  much  "  in  seeking  to  lay  the  foun- 
dation of  a  hopeful  plantation,"  ^  and  had  also  taken  ac- 
tual possession  of  that  territory  "  to  his  name  and  use  as 
Sovereign  Lord  thereof"  They  assured  him  that  there 
were  no  subjects  of  any  other  Christian  power  having  any 
title  or  possession  in  America,  between  the  fortieth  and  for- 
ty-eighth degrees  of  north  latitude,  and  that  the  country  had 
been  recently  nearly  depopulated  by  a  wonderful  plague. 
"  Thankful  for  the  divine  favor  of  this  prior  discovery 
and  occupancy,"  and  for  an  opportunity  for  the  "  conver- 
sion of  such  savages  ^  as  remained  wandering  in  desolation 
and  distress,  to  civil  society  and  Christian  religion,"  and 
probably  not  less  grateful  for  a  plea  for  enlarging  his  do- 
minions, his  majesty  granted  the  absolute  property  of  that 
vast  territory,  extending  from  sea  to  sea,  to  Gorges  and 
his  associates,  whom  he  incorporated  under  the  title  of 
"  The  council  established  at  Plymouth,  in  the  county  of 
Devon,  for  the  planting,  ruling,  ordering,  and  governing 
of  New  England,  in  America." 

The  order  for  the  patent  was  issued  by  the  king  in  coun- 
cil, on  the  third  of  November,  in  the  year  1620.  It  was 
passed  under  the  great  seal,  on  the  third  of  July  following, 

^  The  old  term  for  Colonies.  Bacon's  Essays,  "  Of  Plantations,"  xxxiii.  In  the 
"  Tempest,"  IG23,  act  2,  scene  i.,  "  Plantations  of  this  Isle ;  "  so  used  by  Milton, 
about  1650.  Prose  works,  Bohn's  edition,  3il,  344,  345,  347,  and  in  the  state  pa- 
pers generally. 

^This  was  generally  assigned  in  the  early  charters,  as  a  prominent  design;  it 
was  in  the  Virginia  charter.  The  enemies  of  the  Puritans  often  reproach  thera 
with  delay  and  indiflerence  in  the  work  of  civilizing  and  Christianizing  the  In- 
dians, but  if  this  were  just,  which  it  is  not,  the  charge  comes  with  an  ill  grace 
from  those  who  prefer  it.  What  colony  out  of  New  England  can  show  an  Eliot, 
a  Mayhew,  a  Brainard,  or  a  Kirkland  ? 
2 


10 


VIRGINIA     COMPANY. 


and  was  the  only  ^  civil  basis  ^  of  all  the  subsequent  pa- 
tents and  plantations  which  divided  this  country. 

This  charter  conferred  the  usual  powers  of  corporations, 
and  special  authority  to  make  laws  and  ordinances ;  to  dis- 
pose of  their  lands ;  to  appoint  and  remove  governors  and 
other  officers  of  the  plantations  ;  to  establish  all  manner  of 
order,  laws,  and  directions,  instructions,  forms,  and  cere- 
monies of  government  and  magistracy,  not  contrary  to  the 
laws  of  England  ;  to  rule  all  inhabitants  of  the  colony  by 
such  laws  and  ordinances,  and,  in  cases  of  necessity,  ac- 
cording to  the  good  discretion  of  their  governors  and 
officers  respectively,  in  capital,  criminal,  or  civil  cases,  as 
near  as  conveniently  might  be  agreeably  to  the  laws  of 
England.  The  charter  further  gave  extraordinary  powers 
as  in  cases  of  rebellions  and  hostile  invasions. 

By  this  movement  the  infatuated  and  unwary  king 
opened  a  new  source  of  complaints  against  himself,  for  no 
sooner  had  the  patent  been  executed,  than  the  members 
of  the  London,  or  Virginian  Company,  took  various  ex- 
ceptions to  it,  ^  and  their  objections  were  willingly  enter- 
tained by  the  patriots  in  both  Houses  of  Parliament, 
between  whom  and  the  king  were  gathering  the  contro- 
versies, which  were  bequeathed  by  James  to  his  son 
Charles  —  a  fatal  legacy. 

It  is  remarkable  that,  under  this  charter,  the  creature 
of  absolutism,  and  intended  as  one  of  its  supports,  grew 
up  those  colonies  which  were  the  very  nurseries  of  re- 


*  Except  De  Mont's,  from  Henry  IV.  of  France,  1G03;  Ilaliburtou's  Nova  Sco- 
tia, i.  11  -29;  Hazard's  Hist.  Coll.  i.  45. 

2  Belknap's  Hist,  of  New  Hampshire,  ed.  1831,  p.  3;  Holmes'  Annals,  i.  164. 

3  The  Patent  for  New  England  was  the  first  named  in  the  list  of  "  Publick 
Grievances  of  the  Kingdome."  See  also  the  "Declaration"  in  Mass.  Hist.  Coll. 
xis.;  Purchas'  Pilgrims,  iv.  1827-1832;  Hazard,  i.  390. 


MONOPOLIES. OPPOSED    BY   PARLIAMENT.  11 

ligious  and  civil  liberty,  affording  refuge  and  security  even 
to  the  regicides.  ^ 

While  the  injustice  of  the  king  toward  the  Virginia 
Company  gained  for  it  the  popular  favor,  ^  his  rigid  en- 
forcement of  the  most  odious  exclusive  privileges  ^  of  the 
New  England  Company,  was  to  the  latter  a  prolific  source 
of  legal  and  parliamentary  difficulties  and  popular  dislike, 
seriously  embarrassed  its  proceedings  at  home,  impaired  its 
authority  in  the  colonies,  and  ultimately  led  to  the  sur- 
render of  the  royal  patent,  in  the  year  1635.^ 

Among  the  reasons  assigned  by  the  council  for  the 
resignation  of  their  charter,  they  said  that,  "  At  home 
they  were  assaulted  with  sharp  litigious  questions  before 
the  Lords  of  his  Majesty's  most  Honorable  Privy  Coun- 
cil, by  the  Virginian  Company,  and  that  in  the  very  in- 
fancy thereof,  who  finding  they  could  not  prevail  in  that 
way,  they  failed  not  to  prosecute  the  same  in  the  House 
of  Parliament,  pretending  our  said  Plantation  to  be  a 
grievance  to  the  Commonwealth,  and  for  such  presented 
it  unto  King  James  of  blessed  memory,  who,  although 
his  justice  and  royal  nature  could  [not]  so  relish  it,  but 

'  President  Stiles'  History  of  Whalley,  Goffe  and  Dixwell.   Hartford,  1794. 

2 Even  the  king's  fivorite  Dean  of  St.  Paul's,  Dr.  John  Donne,  preached  a  ser- 
mon before  "the  Honorable  Company  of  the  Virginian  Plantation,  13th  Novem- 
ber, 1G22,"  commending  it  to  the  public  favor.  This  discourse  is  omitted  in  the 
folio  collection  of  his  sermons. 

3  As,  a  monopoly  of  fishing  and  curing  fish,  or  of  cutting  timber  and  wood  for  the 
use  of  the  fishing  vessels  on  the  New  England  shores;  but  the  Virginia  Company 
was  not  less  grasping  in  its  claims;  indeed  their  similar  claims  furnished  an  argu- 
ment for  the  creation  of  the  N.  E.  Company.  The  charter  of  the  Northern  Company 
recites  that  one  of  the  reasons  for  its  incoi'poration  was  the  "  differences  between 
themselves,  and  those  of  the  said  first  colony."  I  suppose  this  Avas  a  principal 
procuring  cause  of  the  enactment  of  the  Statute  of  Monopolies,  21  James,  1623. 
Gorges'  Brief  Relation,  pp.  11,  12,  14.  It  is  a  curious  fact,  that  to  exclude  all  in- 
truders, the  Massachusetts  Company  voted,  July  28,  1629,  to  solicit  the  king  to 
renew  the  proclamation  of  Nov.  6,  1622,  enfoi'cing  the  monopolies. 

^  Commons'  Journals,  1,  673,  6S8;  Gorges'  Brief  Narration,  chap.  xvi.  in  Maine 
Hist.  Coll.  ii.  31,  32;  Rymer's  Feed.  xvii.  41G,  490. 


12      CONFLICT   OF    GRANTS. DIVISION    OF    TERRITORY. 

was  otherwise  pleased  to  give  his  gracious  encourage- 
ment, for  prosecution  thereof,  yet  such  was  the  times, 
as  the  affections  of  the  multitude  were  thereby  dis- 
heartened." ^ 

These  facts  furnish  some  apology  for  the  loose  and  im- 
methodical  transactions  of  the  company,  and,  in  a  degree, 
for  the  confusion  and  conflict  of  their  grants.  This  sub- 
ject  has  been  involved  in  deep  obscurity.  Dr.  Belknap 
says,  "  That  either  from  the  jarring  interests  of  the  mem- 
bers, or  their  indistinct  knowledge  of  the  country,  or  their 
inattention  to  business,  or  some  other  cause  which  does 
not  fully  appear,  their  afl'airs  were  transacted  in  a  con- 
fused manner  from  the  beginning,  and  the  grants  which 
they  made  were  so  inaccurately  described,  and  interfered 
so  much  with  each  other,  as  to  occasion  difficulties  and 
controversies,  some  of  which  are  not  yet  [1784]  ended. 

As  the  collisions  with  the  Virginia  Company,  the  ele- 
ments of  political  discord  involved  in  the  granting  of  this 
charter,  and  the  direct  attacks  of  the  House  of  Commons, 
discouraged  any  considerable  action  of  the  council  in  their 
corporate  capacity,  they  perhaps  sought  to  avoid  this  by  a 
division  of  the  territory  among  the  individual  members, 
with  all  the  incidental  privileges  requisite  to  the  estab- 
lishment and  government  of  colonies. 

Though  the  charter  created  a  corporation,  one  of  its 
provisions  seems  to  have  contemplated,  at  the  option  of 
the  patentees,  a  division  of  the  territory  "  as  well  among 
Adventurers  as  Planters,"  reserving  merely  a  general  su- 
pervisory authority  in  the  council.  They  were  authorized 
from  time  to  time,  under  their  common  seal,  to  distribute 
among  themselves  or  others,  the  lands  "  by  these  presents 


^  This  important  pnper  is  in  Hazard's   Hist.  Coll.  i.  390.     Compare  it  with  the 
"  Brief  Relation,"  1G22,  in  Mass.  Jligt.  Coll.  xix. 


POWER    OF    GOVERNMENT    CLAIMED.  13 

formerly  granted  unto  each  our  loving  subjects."  This 
was  to  be  done  by  the  company  "  upon  a  commission  of 
survey  and  distribution  executed  and  returned  for  that 
purpose,"  respect  being  "  had  as  well  to  the  proportion^  of 
the  adventurers,  as  to  the  special  service,  hazard,  exploit, 
or  merit  of  any  person  so  to  be  recompensed,  advanced, 
or  rewarded." 

Preliminary  to  a  division,  they,  in  the  year  1622,^  pub- 
lished and  dedicated  to  Prince  Charles,  their  proposed 
"  Platform  of  the  government  and  division  of  the  territo- 
ries in  general."  In  this  they  assumed  to  hold  under  the 
royal  patent,  a  relation  to  the  American  territory,  and 
proposed  colonies,  like  that  of  the  king  to  his  dominions. 
Adopting  the  language  of  sovereignty,  they  resolved  "  that 
of  this  our  realm,  two  parts  ^  of  the  whole  territory  is  to 
be  divided  between  the  patentees  into  several  counties,  to 
be  by  themselves  or  their  friends  planted  at  their  pleasure 
or  best  commodity."  These  were  to  be  subdivided  into 
baronies,  hundreds,  cities  or  towns,  as  might  be  deemed 
expedient.  Their  deputies  convened  in  general  assembly, 
by  the  order  of  the  council,  might  enact  laws,  subject  to 
the  approval  of  the  council,  who  were  "  to  give  life  to  the 
laws  so  to  be  made  as  to  those  to  whom  of  right  it  best 
belongs,"*  according  to  his  majesty's  royal  grant  in  that 


^  Some  of  them  agreed,  in  1G22,  "  to  disburse  a  hundred  pounds  apiece."  Mass. 
Hist.  Coll.  xix.  13.  Four  years  before,  in  IGIS,  the  Virginia  Company  directed  a 
division  of  the  Somer  Isles,  —  a  share  to  every  adventurer.  Smith's  General  His- 
toric, Book  5,  pp.  187,  189. 

*  After  "almost  two  years"  of  disputes  -with  their  enemies.  Mass.  Hist.  Soc. 
xix.  12. 

3  The  other  third  part  "  to  be  reserved  for  publick  uses."  Mass  Hist.  Coll.  xix. 
1,2,  3,  11-15. 

^  That  the  Massachusetts  Colony  "wholly  excluded  themselves  from  y<^  publick 
government  of  y"  council  authorized  for  those  affairs  and  made  y"  selves  a  free 
people,  and  for  such  liuM  themselves  at  y"  present,"  was  one  of  the  reasons  for  tlie 
resignation  of  the  patent,  in  1635.     Hazard,  i.  S'JO,  3;I2. 


14  PORTIONS    AND    NAMES    OF   PROPRIETORS. 

behalf:"  and  further,  these  "lords  of  counties  may  of 
themselves  subdivide  their  said  counties  into  manors  and 
lordships,  as  to  them  shall  seem  best."  They  also  de- 
clared, that  cities  and  inferior  towns  "  shall  be  incorporate 
and  made  bodies  politic  to  govern  their  affairs  and  peo- 
ple." 

The  king  tacitly  approved  of  this  scheme.  ,  Captain 
John  Smith,  the  first  topographer  of  the  New  England 
coast,  says  in  his  "  Generall  Historic,"  published  in  the 
year  1624,  that  it  was  "  at  last  engrossed  by  twenty  ^  pat- 
tentees,  that  divided  my  map  into  twenty  parts  and  cast 
lots  for  their  shares."  It  affords  curious  evidence  of  the 
interest  felt  respecting  this  country  among  geographers 
and  men  of  science,  at  that  early  period,  that  in  the 
fourth  volume  of  Puchas'  "  Pilgrims,"  published  only  a 
few  months  afterwards,  is  a  map  of  New  England,  repre- 
senting this  distribution  of  the  territory,  and  showing 
portions  and  names  of  the  several  proprietors ;  a  fact 
creditable  to  the  author's  diligence  and  accuracy.  The 
map,  •  a  fac-simile  of  a  portion  of  which  is  here  given, 
suggests,  at  a  glance,  their  very  imperfect  knowledge  of 
the  country,  and  how  imaginary  were  the  lines  of  this 
territorial  division. 

The  names  on  the  map  are  in  the  following  order, 
beginning  at  the  north-east,  the  abbreviations  being  omit- 
ted. 

[Thomas]  Earl  of  Aiiundel,        Lord  KEErsR, 

Sir  Ferdinando  Gorges,^  Sir  William  Belasis, 

Earl  of  Carlile,  Sir  Ro.  Mansell, 


1  Many  of  the  patentees  "  quittcil  their  interests  "  during  the  troubles  in  Par- 
liament.    Gorges,  chap.  xxi. 

2  Sir  Ferdiniindo  Gorges'  life  and  services  have  been  commemorated  by  the  lion. 
George  Folsom,  in  his  Discourse  before  tlie  ftlaine  Historical  Society,  Sept.  (),  18-16, 
published  in  their  collections,  vol.  ii.  pp.  3  -  71). 


THE    KING    APPROVES. CHARLES  P"^'^    PLAN.  15 

Earl  of  Holderness,  [Robert]  Earl  of  Warwick,^ 

[William]  Earl  of  Pembrock,      Duke  of  Richmond,^ 
[EDMUND]  Lord  SHEFFEILD,  Mr.  [Abram]  Jennings, 
SirHe.  Spelman,  Dr.  [Mathew]  Sutcliffe, 

Sir  Will.  Apsley,  [Dean  of  Exeter,] 

Captain   Loue,  [Edward]  Lord  Gorges, 

[George]  Duke  of  Buckingham,     Sir  Sam.  Argall, 
Dr.  Bar.  Gooch. 

However  liberal,  or  even  extravagant,  their  interpre- 
tation of  the  charter  may  have  been,  all  exceptions  ^  to 
these  proceedings  were  precluded,  when  on  the  third  of 
February,  1624-5,  in  the  presence  of  King  James,  the 
patentees  of  the  council  of  New  England  "  had  their 
portion  assigned  unto  them  by  lot,  with  his  Highness' 
approbation,  upon  the  sea-coast,  from  east  to  "west,  some 
eighty  and  one  hundred  leagues  long.^ "  The  king  died 
soon  after,  and  his  son,  Charles  I.  on  the  thirteenth  of 
the  next  May,  issued  a  proclamation"*  that,  to  the  end 
there  might  be  one  uniform  course  of  government  through 
all  his  dominions,  the  government  of  the  colonies  should 
depend  immediately  on  himself,  and  not  be  committed  to 
any  company  or  corporation  whatever.  Probably  this 
was  a  plan  devised  by  the  high  church  party,  to  frustrate 


'  The  Earl  of  Warwick's  nephew,  Capt.  Thomas  Cammock,  was  the  founder  of 
the  town  of  Scarborough,  Maine.     Maine  Hist.  Coll.  iii. 

*lt  is  not  improbable  that  "  Richmond's  Island,"  on  the  coast  of  iMaine,  derived 
its  name  from  the  Duke  of  Richmond,  who,  in  virtue  of  this  allotment,  may  have 
given  a  patent,  or  verbal  right  of  occup.>tion  there,  and  from  its  narrow  bounds, 
both  the  grant  and  the  grantor  might  soon  be  forgotten,  while  the  island  still  re- 
tains the  name. 

3  "  Then  followed  y''  claims  of  y'^  French  ambassadour,  taking  advantage  at  y''  di- 
visions made  of  y"  sea  coast  between  o-'selves  to  whom  we  made  a  just  and  satis- 
factory answer."  Reasons  of  Resignation,  1635;  Gorges'  Description  of  N.  E. 
"  Briefe  Narration." 

3  Hubbard's  Hist,  of  N.  E.,  Appendix  iii.,  quoted  in  Harris'  full  and  valuable 
note. 

<  Roger  White's  Letter  to  Governor  Bradford,  Dec.  1,  1025  ;  Mass.  Hist.  Coll.  iii. 


16  LORD    SHEFFEILD's   TITLE. 

the  success  of  Puritanism,  but  his  majesty's  attention  was 
soon  diverted  to  more  important  issues. 

The  council's  transactions  being  thus  ratified  by  the 
crown,  the  several  patentees  of  the  territory  of  New 
England,  became  each  ^  a  lord  proprietor  of  his  portion, 
with  an  absolute  title  thereto,  clothed  with  all  the  powers 
of  government,  originally  in  the  king,  and  by  him  vested 
in  them. 

Thus  was  derived  the  title  and  authority  of  Lord  Shef- 
feild,  in  the  exercise  of  which  he  issued  the  charter  ^  for 
Cape  Anne,^  under  whose  authority  the  colony  was  found- 
ed, in  the  year  1624,  which  is  now  expanded  into  the 
Commonwealth  of  Massachusetts. 

'  In  the  year  1623,  Mr.  David  Tompson  occupied  "  Tompson's  Island  "  in  Boston 
Harbor,  but  Hubbard  says,  "  he  could  pretend  no  other  title  than  a  promise  or  a  gift, 
to  be  conferred  on  him,  in  a  letter  of  Sir  Ferdinando  Gorges,  or  some  other  member 
of  the  council."  Tompson  seems  to  have  been  one  of  the  council's  ofiicials.  See 
Robert  Gorges'  Charter  of  Dec.  30,  1623. 

-  A  precedent  for  this  was  established  by  Sir  AValter  Haleigh,  who,  in  1587, 
incorporated  "  the  Borough  of  Virginia,"  and  appointed  John  White  Governor, 
■with  a  council  of  twelve.     Holmes'  Annals,  i.  104,  105, 

^  The  location  and  boundaries  of  the  several  portions  were  necessarily  vague  and 
contingent.  Shefifeild,  in  addition  to  his  title  as  patentee,  held  also  by  purchase 
from  the  company.  The  Rev.  Joseph  B.  Felt,  in  1845,  found  in  the  archives  of  the 
British  Government  a  volume  marked  "  Journal  of  Council  of  Trade,"  apparently 
the  original  record  of  the  council  for  New  England.  In  it  was  this  entry,  *•  Nov. 
27,  1622,  Lord  Sheffeild  and  Abram  Jennings,  £110  each,  for  their  lands  in  ^iew 
England,"  but  without  any  other  description.  In  1621  and  1622,  Mr.  Ambrose  Jeur 
nings,  of  London,  and  Mr.  Abraham  Jennings,  of  Plymouth,  employed  ships  in  the 
fishing  business  on  this  coast.  I\ew  England's  Trials,  p.  17,  in  Force's  Tracts, 
vol.  ii. ;  Sullivan's  Maine,  392;  George  Folsom's  History  of  Saco  and  Biddeford, 
lU;  Williamson's  Maine,  i. 


CHAPTER    III. 

WRIOTHESLEY,    EARL     OF     SOUTHAMPTON,    THE     PATRON     OF     BARTHOLO- 
MEW   GOSNOLU  GOSNOLD     SAILS     FOR     NORTH    VIRGINIA,     IN     MAY, 

1602 DISCOVERS     CAPE     ANNE NAMES     CAPE    COD VISITS     MAK- 

THa's    VINEYARD  —  BUILDS    A    FORT    AT     ELIZABETH'S     ISLAND CAP- 
TAIN    JOHN     SMITH    VISITS    AND    NAMES     NEW    ENGLAND,    IN    1614 

MASSACHUSETTS     ESTEEMED    A    PARADISE  IT     IS     VISITED     BY     THE 

PLYMOUTH     COLONISTS  SOME      OF      THE      COLONISTS      REMOVE      TO 

NANTASKET  ROGER     CONANT  BAD     CONDUCT     AND     DISGRACE     OF 

LYFORD    AND    OLDHAM. 

The  following  information  respecting  Cape  Anne,  the 
birth-place  of  Massachusetts,  has  been  gleaned  from  the 
accounts  of  the  early  navigators  on  the  coast  of  New 
England,  and  the  manuscripts  of  the  first  settlers,  which 
furnish  the  history  of  the  discovery  and  occupation  of 
this  region  by  the  English. 

The  misfortunes  of  the  Virginia  planters  discouraged 
for  a  while  any  further  efforts  at  colonization,  till  the 
spirit  of  enterprise  was  revived  by  the  young  and  accom- 
plished noble,  Henry  Wriothesley,  Earl  of  Southampton, 
distinguished  as  the  first  to  appreciate  Shakspeare's  ge- 
nius,^ his  "  especial  friend,"  and  his  munificent  patron. 

^  He  was  scarcely  twenty  years  of  age  when  Shakspeare  dedicated  to  him  his 
"  Venus  and  Adonis."  He  was  liberated  and  restored  on  the  accession  of  James 
the  First.  He  died  in  the  Netherlands,  on  the  lOlh  November,  1624,  and  was 
buried  at  Titchfield.  Charles  Knight's  Biography  of  Shakspeare,  223,  239,  268; 
riclorial  Hist,  of  England,  i.  658,  661,  664;  iii.  388j  Lodge's  Portraits,  iii.  158, 
165;  Eapin's  Hist,  of  England,  ii.  208.  His  memory  was  honored  by  the  authors 
of  the  day,  whose  Poems  were  collected  and  published,  in  1625,  in  a  volume  entitled, 
The  Teares  of  the  Isle  of  Wight,  shed  on  the  Tombe  of  Henrie,  Earle  of  SOUTH- 
AMPTON, and  James,  Lord  AVRIOTHESLEY.  The  volume  is  now  a  rarity  so 
highly  prized,  that  it  has  been  sold  for  upwards  of  £15. 

3 


18        LORD    SOUTHAMPTON. BARTHOLOMEW    GOSNOLD. 

His  character  and  position  at  the  time,  invest  this  inci- 
dent with  peculiar  interest.  The  companion  in  arms  and 
in  misfortune  of  the  unfortunate  Earl  of  Essex,  Lord 
Southampton,  now  less  than  thirty  years  of  age,  held  his 
life  only  by  the  clemency  of  Elizabeth.  As  Selden, 
Eliot,  and  Raleigh  found  in  the  Tower  the  leisure  of  the 
scholar,  philosopher,  and  historian,  so  in  the  solitude  of 
his  prison,  he  enjoyed  the  resources  of  a  noble  mind. 
Some  of  the  leisure  hours  of  his  long  imprisonment  were 
beguiled  by  romantic  accounts  of  the  new  found  world, 
which  the  adventures  of  Columbus,  Cabot,  Gilbert  and 
Raleigh  had  brought  only  within  the  limits  of  reality, 
and  whose  outlines  were  almost  as  dim  as  those  of  the 
ancient  Atlantis.  Musing  on  the  mysteries  of  the  obscure 
regions  far  beyond  the  usual  confines  of  navigation, 
where  the  sun  sat  in  darkness,  and  inspired  with  the  gran- 
deur of  the  discoveries,  he  generously  contributed  to,  and 
perhaps  originated,  an  expedition  for  the  new  world,  there 
"  to  discover  convenyent  place  for  a  new  colony."  It  was 
placed  under  the  command  of  Captain  Bartholomew  Gos- 
nold,  and  Captain  Bartholomew  Gilbert. 

Captain  Gosnold,  an  intrepid  and  experienced  mariner 
of  the  West  of  England,  is  distinguished  in  history  as 
the  first  Englishman  who  acquired 

"  a  local  habitation  and  a  name  " 

within  the  borders  of  that  territory,  years  afterwards 
denominated  New  England. 

On  the  26th  of  March,  1602,  with  a  company  of 
thirty-two  men,  consisting  of  a  corps  of  twelve  for  dis- 
covery and  observation,  twelve  to  found  a  colony,  and 
eight  mariners,  they  set  sail  from  Falmouth  in  a  small 
and  frail  "  bark  of  Dartmouth,  called  the  Concord."  On 
the  l4th  of  May,  after  a  passage  of  forty-nine  days  — 


CAPE    ANNE,    AND    CAPE    COD    DISCOVERED.  19 

the  first  ever  accomplished  in  a  direct  course  to  this  part 
of  America  —  they  discovered  land,  which,  from  their 
description,  is  supposed  to  have  included  what  was  after- 
wards named  Cape  Anne,  "  an  out  point  of  woodie 
ground,  the  trees  whereof  were  very  high  and  straight." 
They  laid  at  anchor  for  a  few  hours,  and  were  visited 
by  the  natives,  who,  "in  bark  shallops,  came  boldly 
abourd  them,  aj)parelled  with  wastcoats  and  breeches, 
some  of  black  serdge,  some  of  bleu  cloth,  made  after  the 
sea  fashion,  with  hose  and  shooes  on  their  feet ;  a  people 
tall  of  stature,  broad  and  grym  visaged ;  their  eye  browes 
paynted  white ;  and  yt  seemed  by  some  words  and  signs 
which  they  made,  that  some  barks  of  St.  John  de  Luz, 
had  fished  and  traded  in  this  place.  But  the  ship  riding 
here  in  noe  good  harborow,  and  with  all  the  weather 
doubted,  the  master  stood  off  againe  into  the  sea  south- 
wardly, and  soon  after  found  himself  imbayed  with  a 
mighty  head  land,  where,  coming  to  an  anchor  within  a 
league  of  the  shoare.  Captain  Gosnold  commanded  the 
shallop  to  be  turned  out,  and  went  ashore,  when  he 
perceived  this  headland  to  be  parcell  of  the  mayne,  and 
sundry  islands  lying  almost  round  about  yt ;  w^hereupon, 
thus  satisfied,  he  repaired  abourd  againe,  where,  during 
the  tyme  of  his  absence,  which  was  not  above  six  bowers, 
he  found  the  ship  so  furnished  with  excellent  codfish, 
which  they  hauled,  that  they  were  compelled  to  through 
nombers  of  them  overbourd  agayne."  ^ 

This  headland  they  called  Cape  Cod,  the  first  name 
bestowed  by  an  Englishman  on  any  part  of  the  coast,  a 
harbinger  of  one  of  the  most  important  interests  of  the 
future  colonies  and  states,  a  History  and  a  Poem  in 
itself.     Thus  do 

"  Coming  events  cast  their  sliadows  before." 

*  Chap.  5,  6,  of  Strachey's  "  Ilistorie  of  Travaile  into  Virginie,"  edited  by  R.  H. 
Major,  Esq.     London,  1850. 


20         Martha's  vineyard.  —  Elizabeth  island. 

It  is  a  name,  says  Mather,  which  I  suppose  it  will  never 
lose  till  shoals  of  codfish  be  seen  swimming  on  the  tops 
of  its  highest  hills. 

"  Plonorable  and  worthy  countrymen,"  said  Captain 
John  Smith,^  "let  not  the  meanness  of  the  word  fish 
distaste  you ;  for  it  will  afl"ord  as  good  gold  as  the  mines 
of  Guiana  or  Potassie,  with  less  hazard  and  charge,  and 
more  certainty  and  facility." 

After  doubling  the  Cape,  Captain  Gosnold  discovered 
"  many  faier  islands."  One  he  called  "  Marthse's  Viniard, 
being  stored  with  such  an  incredible  nombre  of  vynes,  as 
well  in  the  woody  parte  of  the  island,  where  they  run 
upon  every  tree,  as  on  the  outward  parts,  that  they  could 
not  goe  for  treading  upon  them;  the  second,  full  of 
deare  and  fowle,  and  glistering  minerall  stones,  he  called 
by  his  own  name,  GosnolFs  Island ;  the  third,  about 
some  sixteen  miles  in  compasse,  contayning  many  peeces 
and  necks  of  land  little  difi"eringe  from  several  islands, 
saving  that  certaine  bancks  of  small  breadth,  like  bridges, 
seemed  to  joyne  them  to  this  island."  ^  And  on  the  24th 
of  May,  they  anchored  at  the  north-west  of  the  last 
named  island,  which  was  covered  with  the  stately  oak, 
ash,  beech,  walnut,  cedar,  sassafras,  and  other  trees,  and 
a  luxuriant  growth  of  grape  vines,  eglantine,  honey- 
suckle, hawthorn,  gooseberry,  and  raspberry.  He  named 
it  Elizabeth,  in  honor  of  his  Queen,  but  it  has  ever 
retained  its  Indian  name  of  Cutty-Hunk,^  while  to  the 
whole  group  of  islands,  of  which  it  is  a  member,  belongs 

•  In  "a  perfect  description  of  Virginia,"  1649,  it  is  said  "  that  New  England  is 
in  a  good  condition  for  livelyhood,  but  for  matter  of  any  great  hopes  but  fishing, 
there  is  not  much  in  that  land." 

2  Purchas'  Pilgrims,  iv.  1(547-1050;  Belknap's  Am.  Biog.  Art.  "Gosnold;" 
Bancroft,  i. ;  Iliklreth,  i.;  Stith's  Virginia,  31. 

3  «  A  contraction  of  Poo-cut-oh-hunk-un-noh,  wliich  signifies  a  thing  that  lies 
out  of  water."     Belknap's  Am.  Biog.  Art.  "  Gosnold," 


GOSNOLD's    plantation. FIRST    EXPORTS.  21 

the  name  suggested  by  Gosnold's  loyalty.  On  this  island, 
hardly  thirty  yards  from  the  shore,  on  the  north-^vest 
side,  was  a  lake  of  fresh  water,  abounding  in  tortoise, 
and  the  resort  of  birds,  in  the  western  end  of  which 
"  was  a  rocky  ilet,  contayning  neere  an  acre  of  ground, 
full  of  wood,  on  which  they  began  a  fort  and  place  of 
abode."  They  built  a  punt,  or  flat-bottomed  boat,  to 
pass  to  and  from  the  islet,  and  were  occupied  three  weeks 
or  more  in  building  a  house  there,  which  they  covered 
with  the  sedge  growing  abundantly  about  the  shores  of 
the  lake. 

After  nearly  two  centuries,  on  the  20th  day  of  June, 
1797,  the  Rev.  Dr.  Belknap  visited  the  spot,  and  had  the 
supreme  satisfaction  to  find  the  cellar  of  Gosnold's  store- 
house ;  and  a  half  century  later,  on  the  22d  of  August, 
1848,  the  writer^  examined  the  locality  described  with 
minute  exactness  in  the  journals  of  Gosnold's  voyage, 
and  the  outlines  of  their  works  were  then  distinctly 
visible.  The  ship  returned  to  England  with  a  load  of 
sassafras  roots,  the  panacea  of  the  day,  which,  with  furs 
and  other  productions  of  the  country,  was  the  first  cargo 
exported  from  New  England. 

The  next  special  notice  of  Cape  Anne  is  from  the 
travels  of  the  illustrious  voyager.  Captain  John  Smith. 
On  the  3d  day  of  March,  1614,  he^  sailed  from  the 
Downes  on  a  voyage  to  "  North  Virginia,"  and  he  then 
gave  it  the  name   of  New  England.^     To   him  we  are 

'  In  company  -with  the  Hon.  George  Folsom,  of  New  York,  and  F.  W.  Sawyer, 
Esq.,  of  Boston. 

*  Then  thirty-five  years  of  age. 

3  In  Thevet's  "  Singularitez  de  la  France  Antarctique,"  published  at  Paris  in 
1558,  ch.  74,  fol.  148,  it  is  said  that  "  Sebastian  Habate  [Cabot],  an  Englishman," 
proposed  to  Henry  VIII.  of  England,  "  to  go  to  Peru  and  America  to  people  the 
country  with  new  inhabitants,  and  lo  establisk  there  a  J\i"ew  Etiglcaid,  which  he  did 
not  accomplish:"  quoted  in  "A  Memoir  of  Sebastian  Cabot,"  2d  ed.  London, 
1832.   8vo.   p.  80.     The  council  for  the  second  colony   "  in  the  North  Partes  of 


22  smith's    map    presented    to    prince    CHARLES. 

indebted  for  the  first  tolerable  outline  of  our  coast. 
Before  sailing,  he  had  collected  all  the  information  to  be 
obtained  from  Gosnold,  Weymouth,  and  the  fishermen 
who  had  been  on  the  coast ;  but  it  was  so  imperfect,  that 
he  declared  it  was  "  even  as  a  coast  unknown  and  undis- 
covered. I  have  had  six  or  seven  severall  plotts  of  those 
northern  parts,  so  unlike  each  to  other,  and  most  so 
differing  from  any  true  proportion  or  resemblance  of  the 
country,  as  they  did  me  no  more  good  than  so  much 
waste  paper,  though  they  cost  me  more.  It  may  be  it 
was  not  my  chance  to  see  the  best ;  but  lest  others  may 
be  deceived  as  I  was,  or  through  dangerous  ignorance 
hazard  themselves  as  I  did,  I  have  drawn  a  map  from 
Point  to  Point,  He  to  He,  and  Harbor  to  Harbor,  with 
the  sounding,  sands,  rocks,  and  land  marks,  as  I  passed 
close  aboard  the  shore  in  a  little  boat."  ^ 

Captain  Smith  presented  his  map  and  account  of  the 
country  to  Prince  Charles,  requesting  him  "•  to  change 
the  Barbarous  names  for  such  English  as  Posterity  may 
say  Prince  Charles  was  their  God-father."  The  Prince 
approved  the  name  of  "  New  England,"  and  called  "  the 
faire  headland"  Cape  Anne,  in  honor  of  his  mother, 
Anne  of  Denmark,  in  preference  to  the  less  euphonious 
name  of  Smith's  lady  love,  Charatza  Tragabigzanda,  so 
gallantly  remembered  by  him  in  his  wanderings  in  the 
new  world.  She  had  become  enamored  of  him  while  he 
was  a  prisoner  in  Turkey,  and  through  her  influence 
with  one  of  the  chief  officers  of  State,  the  hardships  of 


Virginia  in  America,"  petitioned  li!"  Mniesty  that  their  territory  "  may  be  called 
(as  by  the  Prince  His  Highness  it  hatli  biu  uanied)  New  England,  that  the 
boundes  thereof  may  be  settled  from  40  to  45  degrees  of  northerly  latitude,  and  soe 
from  sea  to  sea  through  the  maine  as  the  coast  lyeth."  The  petition,  3  March, 
1620,  is  published  in  "  Documents  of  Colonial  History  "  of  New  York.  1853.  Vol. 
iii.   pp.  2,  3. 

'  Description  of  New  England,  1C24,  p.  205. 


MASSACHUSETTS    THE    PARADISE    OF    NEW    ENGLAIMD.      23 

his  captivity  were  much  alleviated.  The  Prince  likewise 
conferred  his  father's  name  on  Cape  Cod,^  but  so  appro- 
priate was  the  latter,  that  it  never  yielded  even  to  royal 
claims. 

Captain  Smith  published  his  "  Description  of  New 
England  "  —  for  several  years  the  only  guide  of  voyagers 
to  this  coast  —  in  the  year  1616,  and  he^  passed  that 
summer  in  distributing  copies  of  it  among  the  gentry  of 
the  principal  towns  of  Cornwall  and  Devonshire,  the 
maritime  counties  of  England,  in  order  to  excite  a  new 
impulse  in  favor  of  colonization. 

Of  "  the  coast  of  Massachusetts  "  he  said,  "  of  all  the 
four  parts  of  the  world  I  have  yet^  seen  uninhabited, 
could  I  have  but  means  to  transport  a  colony,  I  would 
rather  live  here  than  any  where  else ; "  and  in  another 
place  he  calls  "  the  country  of  the  Massachusetts ''  the 
Paradise  of  all  those  parts."  Some  years  later  Admiral 
Levett  was  on  the  coast,  and  found  that  by  common 
consent  "  Massachusetts  was  called  the  Paradise  of  New 
England." 

The  Plymouth  colonists,  "  hearing  a  great  fame  there- 
of," early  in  the  next  fall  after  their  arrival,  dispatched 
a  boat  with  a  company^  of  ten  men,  under  Captain 
Standish,  to  explore  the  country,  conciliate  the  natives, 

^  In  1632  its  popular  name  was  Cape  Cod.  Hist.  Doc.  New  York,  iii.  17.  New 
Foundland,  discovered  by  the  Portuguese  navigator  about  the  year  146;5,  was,  at 
first,  called  Terra  de  Baccalhaos  or  land  of  cod-tish. 

2  Horatio  G.  Somerby,  Esq.,  has  discovered  in  the  Parish  Register  of  AVil- 
loughby,  County  of  Lincoln,  England,  the  record  of  Smith's  baptism.  "  157'j, 
John,  the  son  of  George  Smith,  was  baptized  tlie  sixth  day  of  January." 

3  A  critical  examination  of  Smith's  account  of  this  region  is  in  the  History  of 
Dorchester,  "  number  one,"  pp.  1-4,  but  its  strictures  must  be  received  with  great 
caution. 

••  The  Indians  told  Roger  Williams  that  "  the  Massachusetts  were  called  so  from 
the  Blue  Hills,"  in  Milton  ;  and  the  learned  llev.  John  Cotton  dehucd  it  us  "  an 
hill  in  the  form  of  an  arrow  head." 

*  Hubbard,  1U2  ;  Prince,  112,  113. 


24  NANTASKET. ROGER    CONANT. 

and  "  procure  their  truck."  "  They  returned  with  some 
beaver,  a  good  report  of  the  place,  and  wishing  they  had 
been  settled  there."  Having  built  "  something  like  a 
habitation  "  ^  at  Nantasket,  they  probably  trafficked  with 
the  natives  for  their  peltry,  and  became  familiar  with  the 
coast  and  its  advantageous  points. 

Among  the  London  merchants  who  aided  the  Ply- 
mouth colonists,  and  who  were  commonly  called  the 
"merchant  adventurers,"  were  many  adherents  of  the 
established  church,  having  no  sympathy  with  the  Pil- 
grims, and  who  viewed  the  enterprise  only  as  a  source 
of  pecuniary  profit.  They  introduced  into  the  colony 
persons  of  opinions  similar  to  their  own,  and  of  course 
unfriendly  to  the  Pilgrims.  Among  them,  John  Lyford 
and  John  Oldham  became  unhappily  conspicuous. 

The  Pilgrims  were  of  that  section  of  the  Puritans 
who  dissented  from  the  establishment,  and  were  stig- 
matized as  "  Separatists."  There  w^ere  in  the  colony  a 
few  Puritans  of  more  moderate  views,  who  resided  there 
for  a  while,  but  "  out  of  dislike  of  their  principles  of 
rigid  separation,"  voluntarily  withdrew  with  their  fami- 
lies to  Nantasket,  where  Captain  Standish  had  built  a 
house,  in  his  tour  of  observation  in  the  month  of  Sep- 
tember, 1621.  Mr.  Roger  Conant,  the  principal  person 
of  the  company  at  Nantasket,  was  "  a  pious,  sober,  and 
prudent  gentleman,"  who  had  come  to  New  England  as 
early  as  the  fall  of  the  year  1622,  or  in  the  next  spring. 

As  the  serious  charges  against  Lyford  rest  on  the 
eoj  parte  statements  of  Bradford  and  Morton,  they  may 

1  Hubbard,  the  authority  ou  this  point,  says,  that  after  the  dismissal  of  Oldham 
and  Lyford,  "some  religious  and  well  afl'ected  persons,"  of  whom  "  Mr  Roger 
Conant  was  one,"  "were  [had]  lately  removed  out  of  New  Plymouth."  He  has 
been  erroneously  understood  as  representing  others  beside  Oldham  and  Lyford,  to 
have  been  expelled.  Hubbard,  hi'2,  I'M,  116  ;  Young's  Chrou.  of  Massachusetts, 
'S3,  note  4. 


BAD  CONDUCT  OF  LYFORD  AND  OLDHAM.       25 

be  received  with  caution ;  but  as  the  former  wrote  of  his 
own  personal  knowledge,  and  Morton  himself  was  a 
youth  of  about  thirteen  years  of  age  at  the  time,  and 
was  also  a  prominent  man  in  the  colony,  and  both  w^ere 
men  of  known  integrity,  their  positive  testimony  can  be 
questioned  only  on  the  gravest  considerations.  Hubbard, 
the  historian,  passes  lightly  over  the  difficulties  at  Ply- 
mouth, but  Prince^  suggests  that  "he  is  sometimes  in 
the  dark  about  the  affairs  of  Plymouth,  and  especially 
those  which  relate  to  Lyford  and  Oldham,  as  also  to 
Mr.  Robinson." 

If  Bradford's  testimony  is  to  be  believed,  Lyford  was 
the  evil  genius  of  New  England.  He  had  absconded 
from  Ireland  for  acts  of  the  vilest  criminality ;  but  before 
his  true  character  was  known,  the  Episcopal  faction  of 
the  adventurers  in  London  selected  him  for  the  ministry 
at  Plymouth,  from  hostility  to  Mr.  Robinson,  who,  with 
a  portion  of  his  church,  was  yet  ^  at  Leyden.  At  New 
Plymouth,  he  affected  admiration  of  their  order  in  church 
and  state,  and  with  tears  and  confessions  sought  admis- 
sion to  their  fellowship,  into  which  he  was  received.  So 
zealously  did  he  approve  their  doings,  that  the  Governor 
advised  with  him  on  affairs  of  importance.  Lyford  found 
in  the  colony  a  dishonorable  person,  one  John  Oldham, 
described  by  Governor  Bradford  as  "  a  private  instrument 
of  the  factious  part  of  the  adventurers  in  England, 
whom  we  had  also  called  to  council  in  our  chief  affairs 
without  distrust."  These  congenial  fellows  at  once 
united  in  seditious  proceedings,  endangering  the  public 
interests.     The  very  ship  which  brought  Lyford,  on  her 

»  Prince,  146,  148;  Morton's  Memorial,  53-60;  Robinson's  Letter,  December  20, 
162o,  Works,  i.  Ivii. 

*  Anno  1621,  "  Master  Layford  was  at  the  merchant's  charJge  sent  to  Plimoth 
plantation  to  be  their  pastor."  —  New  English  Canaan. 

4 


26  THEIR    TREASON    EXPOSED. 

return  voyage  to  England  in  July,  carried  about  twenty 
letters  from  him,  and  some  from  Oldham,  filled  with 
slanders  and  false  accusations  of  the  colonists,  tending  to 
their  utter  subversion  and  ruin.  Soon  after,  their  mutin- 
ous behavior  obliged  the  Governor  to  bring  them  before  a 
court  in  the  presence  of  the  whole  company,  where  their 
falsehood  and  guilt  were  proved  by  their  intercepted 
correspondence.  They  were  banished  the  colony.  Old- 
ham returned  in  the  spring  of  1625,  without  leave,  and 
by  his  violence  provoked  a  second  expulsion  with  peculiar 
ignominy. 

Bradford's  quaint  account  of  it  is  as  follows:  He 
"  openly  comes,  and  in  so  furious  a  manner  reviles  us, 
that  even  his  company  are  asham'd  of  his  outrage.  Upon 
which  we  appoint  him  to  pass  thro'  a  Guard  of  Sol- 
diers, and  every  one  with  a  musket  to  give  him  a  blow 
on  his  hinder  part,  is  then  conveyed  to  the  water  side, 
where  a  boat  is  ready  to  carry  him  away,"  "with  this 
farewell,"  says  Morton,^  "  Go  and  mend  your  manners." 

"  While  this  is  doing,  Mr.  Winslow  and  Mr.  William 
Peirse  ^  land  from  England,  and  bid  them  spare  neither 
him  nor  Lyford:  for  they  had  play'd  the  villains  with 
us ;  and  their  Friends  in  England  had  the  like  bickerings 
with  ours  there  about  Lyford's  calumnious  letters,  &c. 
After  many  meetings,  and  much  clamour  against  our 
agents,  for  accusing  him;  the  controversy  was  referred 
to  a  further  meeting  of  most  of  the  adventurers  to  hear 
and  decide  the  matter.  Mr.  Lyford's  party  chose  Mr. 
White,  a  counsellor  at  Law ;  the  other  chose  the  Rev. 
Mr.  Hooker,  Moderator ;  and  many  friends  on  both  sides 


'  Morton's  Memorial,  58 ;  Prince,  153.  Running  the  gauntlet  was  a  statute  punish- 
ment as  late  as  1676.     Plymoutli  Colony  Laws,  p.  179. 

2  Mr.  Savage  has  a  note  about  Peirse,  Winthrop,  i.  29,3  jq  y^lijch  add  p  110, 
vol.  viii.  of  the  N.  E.  Hist.  Gen.  Reg.,  April,  1854. 


LYFORD    EXPELLED    FROM    THE   MINISTRY.  27 

coming  in,  there  was  a  great  assembly;  in  which  Mr. 
Winslow  made  so  surprising  a  discovery  of  Lyford's  car- 
riage when  minister  in  Ireland,  for  which  he  had  been 
forced  to  leave  that  kingdom,  and  coming  to  England 
was  unhappily  lit  on  and  sent  to  New  Plymouth,  as 
struck  all  his  friends  mute,  made  'em  asham'd  to  defend 
him:  and  the  Moderators  declared,  that  as  his  carriage 
with  us  gave  us  cause  enough  to  do  as  we  did,  so  this 
new  discovery  renders  him  unmeet  to  bare  the  ministry 
more."  ' 

The  character  and  relations  of  these  persons,  as  here 
developed,  will  account  for  their  part  in  the  transactions 
at  Cape  Anne,  as  it  appears  in  the  course  of  the  follow- 


ing narrative. 


*  Prince,  153. 


CHAPTER    IV 


I'LYMOUTH    COLONY    SENDS    WINSLOW    AS    AGENT     TO     ENGLAND FAME 

OF    THE    COLONY    IN    ENGLAND REV.    JOHN    WHITE    OF    DORCHESTER. 

LORD    SHEFFEILD    BECOMES     INTERESTED GRANTS    A    PATENT    FOR 

CAPE     ANNE COPY     OF     THE     CHARTER CAPE     ANNE      OCCUPIED 

FAILURE   OF    EFFORTS  AT  CAPE  ANNE DISAFFECTION  OF  THE  LONDON 

MERCHANT     ADVENTURERS LEVETT's     ACCOUNT    OF    PLYMOUTH     AND 

CAPE    ANNE    IN    1624. 

After  two  years  of  colonial  life  and  observation,  the 
pilgrims  deputed^  Edward  Winslow,  Esquire,  to  the 
merchant  adventurers  in  England,  to  report  the  con- 
ditions and  prospects  of  the  colony,  and  to  procure  the 
needed  supplies.  He  sailed  from  Plymouth  in  the  ship 
Ann,  on  the  eighteenth  of  September,  1623 ;  and,  on  his 
arrival  in  London,  conferred  with  Mr.  Robert  Cushman, 
of  whom  Governor  Bradford  says,  "  He  was  our  right 
hand  with  the  adventurers,  and  for  divers  years  managed 
all  our  business  with  them."  About  this  time,  and 
probably  through  the  agency  of  Winslow  and  Cushman, 
and  the  correspondence  of  Mr.  Roger  Conant,  before 
named,  the  fame  of  the  successful  plantation  at  New 
Plymouth^  was  spread  throughout  the  western  parts  of 
England,  especially  in  the  counties  which  Smith  had 
visited  a  few  years  before.     The  Rev.  John  White,  of 

»  Ptincc,  1 10.  2  Hubb.inl,  lUfi. 


CUSHMAN    AND    WINSLOW    INTEREST    LORD    SHEFFEILD.    29 

Dorchester,  loyal  to  the  church,  yet  distinguished  as  a 
Puritan,  took  a  zealous  interest  in  these  enterprises,  and 
afterward  exerted  a  most  important  influence  in  the 
colonizing  of  New  England. 

In  about  sixty  or  eighty  days,  supplies  were  provided 
for  the  colony,  and  preparations  made  to  extend  their 
fisheries  and  to  transport  more  persons  "  further  to  plant 
at  Plymouth,  and  in  other  places  in  New  England," 
especially  "in  a  known  place  there  commonly  called 
Cape  Anne."  ^ 

Among  those  whose  interest  was  gained  by  Cushman 
and  Winslow,  the  first  colonial  agents  from  New  England 
to  Old  England,  was  Edward,  Lord  Sheff'eild,  then  one  of 
the  leading  statesmen  of  England,  and  a  prominent 
member  of  the  Council  for  New  England.  The  creation 
of  this  company,  its  corporate  powers,  the  distribution  of 
the  territory  among  its  members,  and  the  sanction  of  this 
by  the  king  in  council,  establishing  the  title  and  right  of 
government  over  the  various  portions,  in  the  several 
proprietors,  as  emanating  directly  from  the  crown,  have 
been  already  stated.  In  the  exercise  of  this  delegated 
authority,  Lord  Sheff'eild  granted  the  charter  which  is 
now  presented  to  the  reader. 

It  displays  a  political  wisdom,  superior  to  that  of 
Locke,  or  any  theorist,  probably  the  fruit  of  colonial 
experience  as  suggested  by  Winslow  and  Cushman.  No 
elaborate  system  was  created.  A  few  concise  but  com- 
prehensive sentences,  embodied  the  essentials  of  a  free 
government.  The  necessities  of  society  creates  laws, 
suited  to  its  j)osition  and  character  in  its  primitive  con- 

'  "  How  great  a  ilifference  there  is  between  tlie  theoretical  and  practical  part  of 
an  enterprise.  The  Utopian  fancy  of  any  projector  may  easily,  in  imagination, 
frame  a  Hourisliing  plantation  in  such  a  country  as  was  New  England." — Hub- 
bard, 87. 


30  POLITICAL   PRIVILEGES    OF   THE    CHARTER. 

dition,  few  and  simple,  and  in  its  progress  becoming 
more  complicated  and  minute ;  and  thus  the  charter 
wisely  left  the  polity  of  the  colony,  to  be  developed  by 
and  in  itself.  It  establishes,  as  the  basis  of  the  body 
politic,  institutions  whose  design  and  legitimate  fruits  are 
intelligence  and  virtue  ;  it  secures  to  all,  by  fundamental 
laws,  the  opportunity  of  instruction,  and  of  education  in 
the  principles  of  morality  and  religion ;  and,  thus  pre- 
pared for  the  rights  and  duties  of  Christian  freemen,  it 
guarantees  to  them  the  exercise  of  those  rights  and 
duties  in  self-legislation,  and  the  election  of  their  own 
officers  and  magistrates. 


THE    CHARTER. 


VU^IB  JnUrntlirB  ^ade  the  ffirst  day  of  January  Anno  Dni 
1623,  And  in  the  Yeares  of  the  Raigne  of  o""  Soveraigne  Lord  James 
by  the  grace  of  God  King  of  England  fTrance  and  Ireland  Defender  of 
the  ffaith  &;c  the  One  and  Twentyth  And  of  Scotland  the  Seaven  and 
ffyftyth  33ftiDCene  the  right  honorable  Edmond  Lord  Shefleild  Knight 
of  the  most  noble  Order  of  the  Garter  on  thone  part  And  Robert 
Cushman  and  Edward  Winslowe  for  themselves,  and  theire  Associats 
and  Planters  at  Plymouth  in  New  England  in  America  on  thother  part. 
2i2tl^tnCSSCti)  that  the  said  Lord  Sheffeild  (As  well  in  consideracon 
that  the  said  Robert  and  Edward  and  divers  of  theire  Associats  haue 
already  adventured  themselves  in  person,  and  have  likewise  at  theire 
owne  proper  Costs  and  Charges  transported  dyvers  persons  into  New 
England  aforesaid  And  for  that  the  said  Robert  and  Edward  and  their 
Associats  also  intend  as  well  to  transport  more  persons  as  also  further 
to  plant  at  Plymouth  aforesaid,  and  in  other  places  in  New  England 
aforesaid  As  for  the  better  Advancement  and  furtherance  of  the  said 
Planters,  and  encouragement  of  the  said  Vndertakers)  Hath  Gyven, 
graunted,  assigned,  allotted,  and  appointed  And  by  these  pnts  doth 
Gyve,  graunt,  assigne,  allott,  and  appoint  vnto  and  for  the  said  Robert 
and  Edward  and  their  Associats  As  well  a  certaine  Tract  of  Ground  in 
New  England  aforesaid  lying  in  fforty-three  Degrees  or  thereabout  of 
Northerly  latitude  and  in  a  knowne  place  there  comonly  called  Cape 
Anne,  Together  with  the  free  vse  and  benefitt  as  well  of  the  Bay 
comonly  called  the  Bay  of  Cape  Anne,  as  also  of  the  Islands  within  the 


*  The  council's  grant  of  Massachusetts  was  by  "  indenture;  "  so  recited  in  that 
of  March  4,  1(528-9.  The  abbreviations  and  orthograpiiy  of  the  original  have 
been  retained  as  far  as  tlie  modern  type  will  allow.  The  reader  will  be  enabled  to 
detect  any  discrepancies,  by  consulting  the  fac-similc. 


32  "  SCHOOLS,    CHURCHES,    HOSPITALS. 

said  Bay  And  free  liberty ,i  to  ffish,  fowle,  hawke,  and  hunt,  truck,  and 
trade  in  the  Lands  thereabout,  and  in  all  other  places  in  New  England 
aforesaid;  whereof  the  said  Lord  ShefTeild  is,  or  hath  byn  possessed, 
or  which  haue  byn  allotted  to  him  the  said  Lord  ShefTeild,  or  within 
his  Jurisdiccon  (not  nowe  being  inhabited,  or  hereafter  to  be  inhabited 
by  any  English)  Together  also  with  ffyve  hundred  Acres  of  free  Land 
adioyning  to  the  said  Bay  to  be  ymployed  for  publig  vses,  as  for  the 
building  of  aTowne,  Scholes,^  Churches,  Hospitalls,  and  for  the  mayn- 
tenance  of  such  Ministers,  Officers,  and  Magistrats,  as  by  the  said 
vndertakers,  and  theire  Associats  are  there  already  appointed,  or  which 
hereafter  shall  (with  theire  good  liking,^  reside,  and  inhabitt  there  And 
also  Thirty  Acres  of  Land,  over  and  beside  the  ffyve  hundred  Acres 
of  Land,  before  menconed  To  be  allotted,  and  appointed  for  every 
perticuler  person,^  Young,  or  old  (being  the  Associats,  or  servants  of 
the  said  vndertakers  or  their  successo"  that  shall  come,  and  dwell  at 
the  aforesaid  Cape  Anne  within  Seaven^  yeares  next  after  the  Date 
hereof,  which  Thirty  Acres  of  Lande  soe  appointed  to  every  person  as 
aforesaid,  shall  be  taken  as  the  same  doth  lye  together  vpon  the  said 
Bay  in  one  entire  place,  and  not  stragling^  in  dyvers,  or  remote 
parcells  not  exceeding  an  English  Mile,  and  a  halfe  in  length  on  the 
Waters  side  of  the  said  Bay  "JTciyflUiJ  SUtl  i))aginfi  for  ever  yearely 
vnto  the  said  Lord  ShefTeild,  his  heires,  successo'%  Rent  gatherer,  or 
assignes  for  every  Thirty  Acres  soe  to  be  obteyncd,  and  possessed  by 


^  This  and  all  the  provisions  of  this  charter  are  carefully  conformed  to  the  charter 
of  the  Council  of  New  England,  and  of  the  "Platform"  of  1622.  There  is  a 
remarkable  resemblance  between  most  of  the  early  charters. 

^  Here  is  the  embryo  of  New  England  —  schools,  churches,  hospitals  —  laws  and 
elections,  controlled  by  the  people —  to  be  only  "  with  theire  good  liking,"  that  is, 
"  a  major  part  of  them."  The  first  in  order  as  in  importance  are  the  school.s,  sup- 
ported and  controlled  by  the  public;  not  separate,  not  dissentient,  not  sectarian, 
free,  open  to  all,  secular  ;  the  benefits  and  the  burdens  to  be  shared  alike  by  all  — 
tliis  is  necessary  to  the  perpetuity  of  the  rest.  "  For  such  as  are  truly  pious,  shall 
find  here  the  opportunity  to  put  in  practice  the  works  of  piety,  both  in  building  of 
churches,  and  raising  of  colleges  for  the  breeding  of  youth,  or  maintenance  of 
divines  and  other  learned  men."  —  The  Council's  "  Brief  llelation,"  etc.     1G22. 

3  The  germ  of  a  Republic. 

*  Every  man  a  landholder. 

*  This  was  the  time  named  in  Gilbert's  and  other  charters,  within  which  the 
patentees  must  avail  themselves  of  their  privileges. 

6  The  intent  was  "  the  building  of  a  towne,"  a  compact  population,  thus 
avoiding  many  of  the  evils  incidental  to  a  thinly  scattered  population  in  a  new 
country. 


TENURE. POWERS  OF  GOVERNMENT.         33 

the  said  Robert  &  Edward  theire  hcircs,  successo",  or  Associats 
Twelve  Pence  of  lawful!  English  money  At  the  ffeast  of  St.  Michaell 
Tharchaungell  only  (if  it  be  lawfully  demaunded)  The  first  payment 
thereof  To  begynne  ymediatly  from  and  after  thend  and  expiracon  of 
the  first  Seaven  yeares  next  after  the  date  hereof  ^U^  ti)t  Stlltf  Lord 
SheflTeild  for  himself  his  heires,  successo",  and  assignes  doth  Covenant, 
promise,  and  graunt  to  and  with  the  said  Robert  Cushman,  and  Edward 
Winslow  their  heires,  associats,  and  assignes  That  they  the  said 
Robert,  and  Edward,  and  such  other  persons  as  shall  plant,  and 
contract^  with  them,  shall  freely  and  quyetly,  haue,  hold,  possesse, 
and  enioy  All  such  profitts,  rights,  previlidges,  benefits,  Comodities, 
advantages,  and  preheminences,  as  shall  hereafter  by  the  labo",  search, 
and  diligence  of  the  said  Vndertakers  their  Associats,  servants,  or 
Assignes  be  obteyned,  found  out,  or  made  within  the  said  Tract  of 
Ground  soe  graunted  vnto  them  as  aforesaid  ;  Reserving  vnto  the  said 
Lord  Sheffeild  his  heirs,  successors,  and  assignes  The  one  Moyety  of 
all  such  Mynes  as  shall  be  discovered,  or  found  out  at  any  tyme  by  the 
said  Vndertakers,  or  any  their  heires,  successo",  or  assignes  vpon  the 
Grounds  aforesaid  ^UtT  further  That  it  shall  and  may  be  lawfuU  to 
and  for  the  said  Robert  Cushman,  and  Edward  Winslowe  their  heires, 
associats,  and  assignes  from  tyme  to  tyme,  and  at  all  tymes  hereafter 
soe  soone  or  they  or  their  Assignes  haue  taken  possession,  or  entred 
into  any  of  the  said  Lands  To  forbyd,  repell,  repulse  and  resist  by 
force  of  Armes^  All  and  every  such  persons  as  shall  build,  plant,  or 
inhabitt,  or  which  shall  offer,  or  make  shew  to  build,  plant,  or  inhabitt 
within  the  Lands  soe  as  aforesaid  graunted,  without  the  leave,  and 
licence  of  the  said  Robert,  and  Edward  or  theire  assignes  ^Xlti  ti)Z 
SaitJ  Lord  Sheffeild  doth  further  Covenant,  and  graunt  That  vpon  a 


1  This  as  well  as  other  parts  of  the  instrument  provide  for  the  admission  of  new 
associates,  or  even  of  tlie  assignment  of  the  charter.  The  Dorchester  Company  may 
have  "held"  of  the  Plymouth  people  in  either  manner;  perhaps  the  latter  mode 
may  be  conjectured  from  the  fact  that  the  charter  was  in  the  possession  of  a 
Massachusetts  Governor,  the  son  of  a  Governor,  and  principal  founder  of  the 
State. 

-  Under  this  prerogative  of  sovereignty  Governor  Conant  would  have  ample 
authority  to  repel  the  iuvasoin  of  his  territory.  See  chap.  v.  This  authority  is  cun- 
tained  in  Gilbert's  charter,  1578 ;  it  is  also  in  the  royal  charter,  which  authorizes 
the  Colonial  Governors  "  to  encounter,  expulse,  repel  and  resist  by  force  of 
arms  as  well  by  sea  and  land  "  all  persons  not  licensed  to  inhabit  there.  Here,  as 
in  all  the  authority  granted.  Lord  Sheffeild  has  conformed  his  charter  to  the 
language  and  authority  of  the  royal  charter,  and  no  where  exceeds  it. 
5 


35  POPULAR    LEGISLATION. ELECTIVE    OFFICERS. 

lawfull  survey  ^  hadd,  and  taken  of  the  aforesaid  Lands,  and  good 
informacon  gyven  to  the  said  Lord  Sheffeild  his  heires,  or  assigncs,  of 
the  Meats,  Bounds,  and  quantity  of  Lands  which  the  said  Robert,  and 
Edward  their  heires,  associates,  or  assignes  shall  take  in  and  be  by 
them  their  Associats,  Servants,  or  Assigns  inhabited  as  aforesaid ;  he 
the  said  Lord  Sheffeild  his  heires,  or  assigns,  at  and  vpon  the  reason- 
able request  of  the  said  Vndertakers,  or  theire  Associats,  shall  and  will 
by  good  and  sufficient  Assurance  in  the  Lawe  Graunt,  enfeoffe,  confirm 
and  allott  vnto  the  said  Robert  Cushman  and  Edward  Winslowe  theire 
Associats,  and  Assigns  All  and  every  the  said  Lands  soe  to  be  taken 
in  within  the  space  of  Seaven  yeares  next  after  the  Date  hereof  in  as 
larg,'  ample,  and  beneficiall  manner,  as  the  said  Lord  Sheffeild  his 
heires,  or  assignes  nowe  haue,  or  hereafter  shall  have  the  same  Lands, 
or  any  of  them  graunted  unto  him,  or  them  ;  for  such  rent,  and  vnder 
such  Covenants,  and  Provisoes  as  herein  are  conteyned  (mutatis 
mutandis)  Mtiii  shall  and  will  also  at  all  tymes  hereafter  vpon  reason- 
able request  made  to  him  the  said  Lord  Sheffeild  his  heires,  or  assignes 
by  the  said  Edward  and  Robert  their  heires,  associats,  or  assignes,  or 
any  of  them  graunt,  procure,  and  make  good,  lawfull,  and  sufficient 
Letters,  or  other  Graunts  of  Incorporacon^  whereby  the  said  Vnder- 
takers, and  their  Associats  shall  haue  liberty  and  lawfull  authority  from 
tyme  to  tyme  to  make  and  establish  Lawes,  Ordynnces,  and  Consti- 
tucons  for  the  ruling,  ordering,  and  governing  of  such  persons  as  now 
are  resident,  or  which  hereafter  shalbe  planted,  and  inhabitt  there  And 
in  the  meane  tyme  vntill  such  Graunt  be  made  It  shalbe  lawfull  for  the 
said  Robert^  and  Edward  theire  heires,  associats  and  Assignes  by 
consent  of  the  greater  part^  of  them  to  Establish  such  Laws,  Provisions 

'  The  royal  charter,  1G20,  provides  for  "  a  commission  of  survey  and  distri- 
bution "  of  the  hvnds. 

^  '*  It  is  likewise  provided,  that  all  the  cities  in  that  territory,  and  other  inferior 
towns  where  tradesmen  are  in  any  numbers,  sliall  be  incorporate  and  made  bodies 
politic,  to  govern  tlieir  atfairs  and  people  as  it  shall  be  found  most  behoveful  for  the 
public  good  of  the  same" — Council's  "Platform  of  the  Government."  1622. 
This  is  in  exact  conformity  with  the  ample  provisions  of  tlicir  charter.     1620. 

3  "  And  for  that  all  men  by  nature  are  best  pleased  to  be  their  own  carvers,  and 
do  most  willingly  submit  to  those  ordinances,  or  orders  whereof  themselves  are 
authors,  it  is  therefore  resolved,  that  the  general  laws  whereby  that  State  is  to  be 
governed,  shall  be  tirst  framed  and  agreed  upon  by  the  general  assembly  of  the 
States  of  those  parts,  both  spiritual  and  temporal." —  Ibid. 

"  And  there  is  no  less  care  to  be  taken  for  the  trade  and  public  commerce  of 
merchants,  whose  government  ought  to  be  within  themselves,  in  respect  of  the 
several  occasions  arising  between  them,  the  tradesmen  and  other  the  mechauicks. 


SUBORDINATION    TO    THE    CROWN    AND    COUNCIL.  35 

and  Ordynncea  as  are  or  shalbe  by  them  thought  most  fitt,  and  con- 
venient for  the  governement  of  the  said  plantacon  which  shall  be  from 
tyme  to  tyme  executed,  and  administred  by  such  Officer,  or  Officers, 
as  the  said  Vndertakers,  or  their  Associats  or  the  most  part  of  them 
shall  elect, 1  and  make  choice  of  3|5col)^»J0lJ  allvvaies  That  the  said 
Lavves,  Provisions,  and  Ordynnces  which  are,  or  shall  be  agreed  on, 
be  not  repugnant  to  the  Lawes  of  England,  or  to  the  Orders,  and 
Constitucons^  of  the  President  and  Councell  of  New  England  ^CO- 
tjDtlCtr  further  That  the  said  Vndertakers  theire  heires,  and  suc- 
cesso"^"  shall  fore'  acknowledg  the  said  Lord  Sheffeild  his  heires  and 
successo",  to  be  theire  Chiefe  Lord,^  and  to  answeare  and  doe  service 
vnto  his  Lo^P  or  his  Successo",  at  his,  or  theire  Court  when  upon  his, 
or  theire  owne  Plantacon  The  same  shalbe  established,  and  kept  Kit 
iUgtnCS  whereof  the  said  parties  to  these  present  Indentures  Inter- 
chaungeably  have  putt  their  Hands  and  Seals  The  day  and  yeares  first 
aboue  written. 


SHEFFEYLD. 


i^Seal  pendent,^ 


On  the  back  of  the  parchment  is  the  following  attes- 
tation :  "  Sealed  *  and  del'd  in  the  presence  of  John 
BuLMER,  Tho  :  Belweeld,  John  Fowller,"  —  an  exact 
copy  of  which  is  inserted  in  the  left-hand  margin  of  the 
fac-simile  of  the  charter. 

The  strip  of  parchment  at  the  foot  of  the  instrument, 
to  which  the  seal  was  pendent,  yet  remains  as  represented 


with  •whom  they  have  most  to  do,  and  who  are  generally  the  chief  inhabitants  of 
great  cities  and  towns  in  all  parts."  —  Ibid. 

1  Their  officers  or  ministers,  whom  they  employ,  and  whom  they  may  be  bold  to 
question  or  displace,  as  to  themselves  shall  seem  most  fitting."  —  Ibid. 

•  This  is  a  recognition  of  the  Council,  as  the  original  source  of  the  title,  and  as  an 
appellate  power,  agreeably  to  the  plan  of  the  Council,  as  published  in  IG'22. 

'' "These  lords  of  counties  may  of  themselves  subdivide  their  said  county  into 
manors  and  lordships,  as  to  them  shall  seem  best,  giving  to  the  lords  thereof  power  of 
keeping  of  courts,  and  leets,  as  is  here  used  in  England,"  etc. —  Ibid.     Hi22. 

*  All  the  auciciit  legal  furuuilaa  v/crc  here  complied  with.  Blackstone,  Book  II, 
chap.  2 ). 


36  CAPE    ANNE    OCCUPIED    UNDER    THE    CHARTER. 

in  the  fac-simile.  By  the  law  and  usage  of  that  day  the 
original  instrument  was  executed  by  the  grantor  only, 
which  accounts  for  the  omission,  on  this  parchment,  of 
the  names  of  the  grantees  whose  signatures  would  be 
affixed  to  the  counterpart  remaining  in  the  hands  of 
ShefFeild.1 

Mr.  Winslow  returned  to  Plymouth  in  March,  in  the 
ship  Charity,^  after  an  absence  of  about  six  months. 
Among  the  abundant  supplies  for  the  colonists,  brought 
in  this  ship,  were  several  Devonshire  cattle,  perhaps  the 
first  introduced  into  New  England,  unless  the  colonists 
in  Maine  and  New  Hampshire  had  imported  them. 

To  us  the  most  interesting  result  of  Winslow's  mission 
was  the  charter  for  Cape  Anne,  with  the  new  company 
and  materials  for  the  colony  there.  The  ship  was  soon 
discharged  at  Plymouth,  and  was  sent  thence  to  Cape 
Anne,^  taking  a  few  Plymouth  planters  to  aid  in  building 
fishing  stages.  They  erected  "  a  great  frame  house  "  for 
the  various  purposes  of  the  fishery,  and  during  the  sum- 
mer of  the  next  year  made  further  improvements. 

New  Plymouth,  in  the  fourth  year  of  her  settlement, 
having  a  population  of  about  one  hundred  and  eighty 
persons,  extended  the  limits  of  her  commercial  enterprise, 
and  endeavored  to  found  a  new  plantation,  a  scion  from 
the  parent  colony,  a  visible  aggression  of  the  Anglo 
Saxon  race  on  American  soil ;  perhaps  the  first  instance 
of  our  territorial  expansion  —  "  annexation." 

From  this  acquisition,  so  full  of  promise,  Plymouth 
reaped  only  bitter  disappointments  and  reverses;    their 


»  Blackstone,  Book  II.  ch.  20,  §  1. 

2  Judge  Davis  thinks  that  Winslow  and  Lyfbrd  came  in  the  Ann,  though  Prince 
says  he  came  in  the  Charity.  Winslow  went  to  England  in  the  Jinn  the  10th  of 
September  before.     Davis'  Morton,  111;  Prince,  146,  147. 

3  Prince,  140,  147. 


PLYMOUTH    AND    CAPE    ANNE    IN    1C24.  37 

agent  proved  inefficient,  the  salt  works  were  injured,  the 
house  burnt,  and  a  series  of  difficulties  embarrassed  the 
enterprise.  The  disastrous  loss  of  property  sundered  the 
only  bond  of  interest  between  the  Pilgrims  and  the  "mer- 
chant adventurers  "  in  London,  who  dissolved  their  asso- 
ciation and  discontinued  their  assistance  to  the  Plymouth 
Colony.  But  a  portion  of  the  members,  either  with  some 
lingering  interest  in  the  settlement,  or,  more  probably, 
with  the  hope  of  retrieving  their  losses,  wrote  to  the  colo- 
nists, encouraging  them  that  they  were  "  the  people  that 
must  make  a  plantation  in  those  remote  parts  when  all 
others  failed,"^  and  consigned  to  them  another  cargo  of 
goods,  but  at  unreasonable  and  oppressive  prices.^ 

At  the  very  time  of  these  occurrences,  the  summer  of 
the  year  1624,  Christopher  Levett,  Admiral  of  New  Eng- 
land, was  on  this  coast,  and  from  him  we  have  the  obser- 
vations of  a  mere  looker-on.  He  says,  "  neither  was  I  at 
New  Plymouth,  but  I  fear  that  place  is  not  so  good  as 
many  others ;  for  if  it  were,  in  my  conceit,  they  would 
content  themselves  with  it  and  not  seek  any  other,  hav- 
ing ten  times  so  much  ground  as  would  serve  ten  times 
so  many  people  as  they  have  now  amongst  them.  But  it 
seems  they  have  no  fish  to  make  benefit  of,  for  this  year 
they  had  one  ship  fish  at  Pemoquid  and  another  at  Cape 
Ann,  where  they  have  begun  a  new  plantation,  but  how 
long  it  will  continue  I  know  not.  *  *  *  I  fear  there 
hath  been  too  fair  a  gloss  set  on  Cape  Ann.  I  am  told 
there  is  a  good  harbor  which  makes  a  fair  invitation,  but 
when  they  are  in,  their  entertainment  is  not  answerable, 
for  there  is  little  good  ground,^  and  the  ships  which  fished 

1  Prince,  14G,  147,  148  ;  Ibid.  133. 

"^  During  the  earlier  years  tliese  merchants  advanced  goods  at  an  interest  of  oO  to 
50  per  cent.     Holmes'  Annals,  i.  190,  note  1. 
3  'i"he  Gloucester  records  fix  the  exact  locality  of  the  settlement,  and  from  per- 


38  THE   FISHING    BUSINESS. 

there  this  year,  their  boats  went  twenty  miles  to  take 
their  fish,  and  yet  they  were  in  great  fear  of  [not]  making 
their  voyages,  as  one  of  the  masters  confessed  unto  me 
who  was  at  my  house."  ^  The  conclusion  of  this  attempt 
to  colonize  Cape  Anne,  and  the  tracing  of  the  current  of 
events  to  the  establishment  of  a  colony  under  Mr.  Roger 
Conant,  will  occupy  the  next  chapter. 


sonal  examination,  I  can  testify  to  the  accuracy  of  Levett's  description  ;  there  is  a 
"  little  good  ground  "  surroumled  by  barren  granite  hills,  covered  with  clumps  of 
pine  :  it  is  now  cultivated  as  a  farm.     See  Appendix  V. 
1  In  Maine  Hist.  Coll.  ii.  t)S,  99. 


CHAPTEE   V. 

PURITANISM  IN  ENGLAND BISHOP  LAKE  AND    REV.  JOHN  WHITE    FAVOR 

NEW    ENGLAND REASONS  FOR  COLONIZING THE  DORCHESTER  COM- 
PANY  THEY    ESTABLISH    A    COLONY  AT  CAPE  ANNE  TJNDER  THE  SHEF- 

FEILD  CHARTER ROGER  CONANT  APPOINTED  GOVERNOR HOSTILITY 

OF    LONDON  MERCHANTS THEIR  AGENT  HEWES  MAKES  REPRISALS  OF 

PLYMOUTH  PROPERTY   AT    CAPE  ANNE GOV.  CONANT  EFFECTS  PEACE. 

The  Puritan  portion  of  the  Church  of  England,  opposed 
to  the  court  maxim  of  unUmited  power,  and  to  the  grow- 
ing favor  to  its  natural  ally  —  Popery  —  began  to  feel  the 
heavy  pressure  of  its  discipline.  The  law  was  claimed 
and  administered  by  the  court  hirelings.  The  friends  of 
civil  and  religious  liberty  were  execrated  as  rebels  and 
traitors,  and  their  cause  made  the  occasion  of  derision 
and  reproach. 

One  of  the  prelates,  Arthur  Lake,  Bishop  of  Bath  and 
"Wells,  and  his  friend,  the  Rev.  John  "White,  before  re- 
ferred to,  men  of  quiet  and  excellent  lives,  were  of  this 
party.  They  looked  towards  New  England  as  a  refuge 
from  the  impending  storms  of  persecution.  The  venera- 
ble dignitary  professed  to  Mr.  White,  that  but  for  the 
infirmities  of  age  he  would  go  thither  with  him.^ 


^  The  fact  that  a  Prelate  of  the  Church  of  England  was  one  of  the  earliest  friends 
of  New  England,  has  been,  I  believe,  hitherto  unnoticed.  Hugh  Peters'  "  Lust 
Legacy  to  his  Daughter."  Boston,  1717,  p.  77.  Bishop  Lake  was  born  at  South- 
ampton, sou  of  Almeric  Lake  or  du  Lake,  and  brother  of  Sir  Thomas,  Secretary  of 


40  REASONS    FOR    COLONIZING    NEW    ENGLAND. 

The  advantages  of  a  permanent  settlement  on  the  coast 
of  New  England  were  early  brought  to  the  attention  of 
those  engaged  in  the  western  fisheries/  but  without  any 
effect,  for  the  reason,  it  may  be,  that  they  were  the  sug- 
gestions of  men  of  liberal  pursuits  who  would  contemplate 
the  ultimate  results  of  colonization,  not  less  than  the  im- 
mediate gains  of  trade.  In  the  year  1585,  a  "  student  of 
the  middle  temple,"  Richard  Hackluyt,  wrote  a  tract  on 
the  subject ;  it  was  urged  by  Edward  Hayes,^  in  the  year 
1602,  and  by  Edward  Winslow,  in  a  pamphlet,  entitled 
"  Good  Newes  from  New  England,"  published  in  the  year 
1624.  He  says,  "what  may  the  planters  expect  when 
once  they  are  seated,  and  make  the  most  of  their  salt 
there,  and  employ  themselves  at  least  eight  months  in 
fishing ;  whereas  the  others  fish  but  four,  and  having 
their  ship  lie  dead  in  the  harbour  all  the  time,  whereas 
such  shipping  as  belong  to  plantations  may  take  freight 
of  passengers  or  cattle  thither,  and  have  their  lading  pro- 
vided against  they  come." 

These  views  commended  themselves   to   Mr.  White.^ 


State,  elevated  to  the  See  of  Bath  and  Wells  in  1616,  and  died  in  1626.  A  thick  folio 
volume  of  his  sermons  was  published  in  1G2'J.  Laud  was  liis  immediate  successor 
in  his  bishopric.  Rev.  John  AVhite,  A.  M.,  born  at  Stanton,  St.  John,  in  Oxford- 
shire, 1576,  was  Rector  of  Trinity  Church,  in  Dorchester,  1606  -  1648,  with  little 
interruption.  The  Prelate  Laud  persecuted  him  for  preaching  against  popish  cere- 
monies. Prince  Rupert  plundered  his  house,  and  robbed  him  of  his  library.  He 
was  eminent  in  the  assembly  of  divines.  He  died  July  21,  1648,  aged  72,  and  lies 
buried  in  the  porch  of  St.  Peter's  Church,  Dorchester,  but,  <proh  pudor!  without  any 
monumental  inscription.  •' By  his  wisdom  and  ministerial  labors,"  says  Fuller, 
"  Dorchester  was  much  enriched  with  knowledge,  piety,  and  industry."  He  was 
called  the  "  Patriarch  of  Dorchester."     Brook's  Lives,  iii.  89,  90. 

*  In  1620,  the  Virginia  Company  had  expended  £6000  on  the  fisheries  at  Cape 
Cod.     Stith's  Virginia,  185. 

2  In  1620,  Captain  Richard  Whitbourne,  of  Exmouth,  published  "  A  Discourse 
and  Discovery  of  New-found-land,  with  many  reasons  to  proove  how  worthy  and 
beneficiall  a  Plantation  may  there  be  made."  A  copy  of  this  rare  volume  is  in 
Charles  Deane,  Esq.  's  Library. 

3  Hubbard,  106. 


THE  DORCHESTER  COMPANY  FORMED. 


41 


Some  of  his  parishioners  and  friends,  merchants  of  that 
town  and  the  vicinity,  had  prosecuted  the  cod  fisheries 
and  beaver  trade  on  these  shores  for  several  successive 
years.  The  fishermen  being  usually  upon  their  voyages 
nine  or  ten  months,  during  which  time  they  were  without 
religious  instruction,  Mr.  White  suggested  to  the  mer- 
chants that  it  might  benefit  their  own  men,  as  well  as 
others  frequenting  these  coasts,  to  maintain  a  minister 
here.  He  further  suggested  that  a  colony  on  this  coast 
would  facilitate  their  business  by  employing  many  hands 
during  the  fishing  season,  a  portion  of  whom  could  be  left 
in  the  country  until  the  next  season,  and  in  the  mean 
time  might  employ  themselves  in  building  houses  and 
planting  corn,  which,  with  the  fish,  fowl,  and  venison, 
-would  afford  them  abundant  occupation  and  support. 
Upon  these  considerations  the  merchants  organized  them- 
selves into  a  joint  stock  company,  with  a  capital  of  more 
than  £3000,^  to  be  paid  in  by  assessments  in  the  course 
of  five  years,  appointed  John  Humphrey,^  brother-in-law 
of  the  Earl  of  Lincoln,  their  treasurer,  and  were  known  as 
the  Dorchester  Company.  During  this  time,  the  honest 
chronicler.  Captain  John  Smith,  w^as  preparing  his  account 
of  "  New  Plimouth,"  in  which  he  says,  "  there  hath  beene 
afishing  this  yeere  vpon  the  Coast,  about  50.  English 
ships :  and  by  Cape  Anne,  there  is  a  Plantation  a  begin- 
ning by  the  Dorchester  men,  ivhich  they  hold  of  those  of 
New  Plimoth,  who  also  by  them  haue  set  vp  a  fishing 
worke  ;  some  talke  there  is  of  some  other  pretended  Plan- 
tations, all  whose  proceedings  the  eternal  God  protect 
and  preserve."  ^ 

The  Dorchester  merchants,  in  their  fishing  business, 

'  Planters'  Plea,  chap  7,  8. 

«  HuhbarJ,  lOli. 

3  -'Gciicrall  Historic,"  247  ;  Prince,  151. 

6 


42     CAPE  ANNE   "  HELD   OF  THOSE  OF   NEW  rLYMOUTH." 

may  or  may  not  previously  have  had  stages  on  Cape  Ann, 
but  this  their  first  attempt  to  plant  or  colonize,  coincident 
in  time  and  place  with  the  Plymouth  "  patent "  and  plan- 
tation, corroborates  beyond  any  reasonable  doubt.  Captain 
Smith's  accuracy,  that  they  "  held  of  those  of  New  Ply- 
mouth," whose  charter,  as  we  have  seen,  authorized  the 
residence  at  Cape  Anne  of  any  planters,  being  the  "  asso- 
ciates "  of  the  patentees,  "  or  their  successors,"  and  of  any 
ministers,  officers,  or  magistrates,  whom  the  patentees 
might  approve  of. 

The  Plymouth  planters  being  in  possession  of  Cape 
Anne,  under  a  legal  title,  would  admit  to  its  occupa- 
tion only  those  who  acknowledged  their  right ;  and 
this  affords  a  legal  presumption  that  any  others  in  the 
peaceable  enjoyment  of  its  privileges,  were  so  by  agree- 
ment with  them  under  their  charter,  for  it  seems  to 
have  been  drawn  with  the  most  liberal  views  as  to  the 
admission  of  future  parties  to  its  benefits. 

The  statement  of  Captain  Smith  that  the  Dorchester 
Company  "  held  of  those  of  New  Plymouth,"  is  made 
in  the  folio  edition  of  his  General  History,  first  pub- 
lished in  1624  ;  it  is  under  the  head  of  "  the  present  estate 
of  the  plantation  at  New  Plimoth,  1624,"  which  occu- 
pies less  than  a  page  and  a  half  on  the  last  leaf  of 
his  book  —  and  this  information  he  doubtless  obtained 
in  England,  the  very  latest  accounts  he  could  collect 
before  sending  his  concluding  sheet  to  the  press ;  to 
this  it  may  be  added,  that  the  author  s  personal  knowl- 
edge of  New  England,  and  his  prominence  and  zeal  in 
promoting  colonial  enterprises,  involved  an  intimacy 
with  the  leading  adventurers  and  colonists,  which  pre- 
cludes doubt  of  the  responsible  source  of  his  information.^ 

'  The  learned  and  discriminating  historian  of  Virginia,  Stith,  whose  judgment  of 
Smith  is  valuable  beyond  that  of  any  other  writer,  says  lie  is  of  "  unquestionable 


COLONY    ESTABLISHED    AT    CAPE    ANNE.  43 

The  history  of  this,  the  first  permanent  colony  on  the 
territory,  afterwards  included  in  the  Massachusetts 
grant,  is  for  the  first  two  or  three  years,  drawn  chief- 
ly from  Hubbard,  who,  without  doubt,  obtained  his 
knowledge  from  Governor  Conant's  own  lips. 

Having  concluded  the  agreement  with  the  Plymouth 
colonists,  the  Dorchester  Company  adopted  immediate 
and  efficient  measures  for  the  establishment  of  a  plan- 
tation. A  company  of  husbandmen  was  sent  to  Cape 
Anne,  well  furnished  with  the  implements  of  farming, 
and  supplies  for  the  new  settlement.  They  selected 
the  lands  within  the  bosom  of  the  Cape,^  the  site  of 
the  present  town  of  Gloucester.  The  spring  and  sum- 
mer of  the  year  1624  were  diligently  employed  in  prepa- 
ration for  those  who  should  pass  the  next  winter  there, 
fourteen  in  number.^  The  plantation  was  stocked  wdtli 
cattle,  a  house  was  built,  salt  works,  stagings,  and  the 
structures  usually  pertaining  to  the  fisheries  were  erect- 
ed. 

They  appointed  Mr.  Thomas  Gardner  overseer  of  the 
plantation,  and  Mr.  John  Tylly  to  manage  the  fisheries. 
Mr.  John  AVoodbery,  of  Somersetshire,  was  also  one  of 
the  principal  men  of  the  settlement.  About  the  close 
of  the  first  year,^  Mr.  White  received  such  favorable 
information  about    Mr.    Roger    Conant,^  named  in  the 

authority  for  what  is  related  while  in  the  country,  and  I  take  him  to  have  been  a 
very  honest  man,  and  a  strenuous  lover  of  truth."  Stith's  Virginia.  Williams- 
burg, 1747.     Preface,  iv. 

'  Gorges. 

"  Planters'  Plea,  oh.  7,  8. 

3  Hubbard,  106.  Hutchinson  says  t'lat  Conant  left  Cape  Anne  in  the  fall  of 
1626 ;  the  Planters'  Plea  says,  the  Planters  "  stood  us  in  two  years  and  a  halfe  in 
well  nigh  a  thousand  pounds,''  wliiuh  would  make  their  occupation  to  have  begun 
early  iu  1624. 

■' Then  about  33  years  of  age  ;  born  lo'Jl,  died  Nov.  19,  1679.  See  his  Dcpo- 
eition  published  by  Rev.  J.  B.  Felt  in  the  New  England  Hist.  Gen.  Ilcg  Ib-iS 
p.  333. 


44         ROGER  CONANT  CHOSEN  GOVERNOR. 

previous  narative,  that  he  and  the  rest  of  the  adventur- 
ers were  so  well  assured  of  Mr.  Conant's  qualifications, 
that  they  decided  to  employ  him  "  for  the  managing  and 
government  of  all  their  affairs  at  Cape  Anne ; "  and  Mr. 
White  "  was  so  well  satisfied  therein,  that  he  engaged 
Mr.  Humphrey,  the  treasurer  of  the  joint  adventurers,  to 
write  to  him  in  their  names,  and  to  signify  that  they  had 
chosen  him  to  he  their  governor  in  that  placed  and  would 
commit  unto  him  the  charge  of  all  their  afiairs,  as  well 
fishhig  as  planting."  They  also  invited  Mr.  Lyford  to 
be  the  minister  of  the  new  colony,  and  Oldham  to  trade 
for  them  with  the  Indians.  At  that  time  they  dwelt  at 
Nantasket.  Lyford  accepted,  and  went  to  Cape  Anne 
with  Governor  Conant,  but  Oldham  preferred  "  to  stay 
where  he  was,  for  a  while,  and  trade  for  himself,  and 
not  become  liable  to  give  an  account  of  his  gain  or 
loss." 

Of  this,  Prince  says,  "  it  seems  as  if  the  Rev.  Mr. 
"White  and  the  Dorchester  gentlemen  had  been  imposed 
upon  with  respect  to  Lyford  and  Oldham,  and  had  sent 
invitations  to  them  before  the  discovery  "  of  their  wick- 
edness. 

Governor  Conant  may  have  allowed  Lyford's  presence 
at  Cape  Anne,  from  commiseration  for  his  family,  or 
upon  his  repentance.  The  only  occurrence  of  note 
during  Governor  Conant's  administration  at  Cape  Anne 
was  the  case  of  the  aggression  on  the  property  of  the 
Plymouth  planters,  wherein  he  displayed  a  moderation 

'  The  charter  expressly  authorizes  civil  officers,  and  the  maintenance  of  a  minis- 
ter and  there  can  be  no  reasonable  doubt  that  these  appointments  were  under  its 
provisions.  In  point  of  prudence  and  interest,  the  Dorchester  merchants  would 
avail  themselves  of  all  the  charter  privileges,  and  nothing  appearing  to  the  contrary, 
there  can  be  no  reasonable  doubt  that  the  appointments  of  the  various  officers  were 
made  by  virtue  of  the  charter.  Sec  also  the  "  Declaration,"  in  Mass.  Hist. 
Coll.  xix. 


A    SHARP    CONTEST    AT    CAPE    ANNE.  45 

and  address  appropriate  to  his  position.  Some  of  the 
"  adventurers,"  who  had  deserted  the  colonial  interests, 
sent  "  one  Hewes,"  to  make  reprisal  of  the  Plymouth 
possessions  at  the  Cape.  This  was  probably  done  at 
the  suggestion  of  those  bad  men,  Lyford  and  Oldham. 

Hubbard  represents  this  incident  with  much  humor, 
at  the  expense  of  the  Plymouth  people:  but  Prince's 
suggestion  that  he  was  "  sometimes  in  the  dark  about 
the  affairs  of  Plymouth,  and  especially  those  which 
relate  to  Lyford  and  Oldham,"  in  connection  with  the 
preceding  relation,  will  be  a  caveat  to  the  reader. 

His  account  contains  incidentally  some  interesting 
details,  and  shows  that  they  were  inclined  to  a  literal 
interpretation  of  that  clause  of  their  patent,  which 
authorized  them  "  to  forbyd,  repell,  and  repulse  by 
force  of  armes,"  all  intruders  on  their  territory.  The 
story  runs  thus :  "  In  one  of  the  fishing  voyages 
about  the  year  1625,  under  the  charge  and  command 
of  one  Mr.  Hewes,  employed  by  some  of  the  west 
country  merchants,  there  arose  a  sharp  contest  between 
the  said  Hewes  and  the  people  of  New  Plymouth,  about 
a  fishing  stage,  built  the  year  before  about  Cape  Anne 
by  Plymouth  men,  but  was  now,  in  the  absence  of  the 
builders,  made  use  of  by  Mr.  Hewes'  company,  which 
the  other,  under  the  conduct  of  Captain  Standish,  very 
eagerly  and  peremptorily  demanded :  for  the  company  of 
New  Plymouth,  having  themselves  obtained  a  useless 
patent^  for  Cape  Anne,  about  the  year  1623,  sent  some 
of  the  ships,  which  their  adventurers  employed  to  trans- 
port passengers  over  to  them,  to  make  fish  there ;  for 
which  end  they  had  built  a  stage  there,  in  the  year  1624. 

^  Prince,  p.  153,  note  41. 

2"  Useless,"  not  from  want  of  authority  in  the  patent,  but  the  unfitness  of  the 
territory  for  a  colony. 


46       CAPTAIN    STANDISH. GOV.    CONANT's    PRUDENCE. 

The  dispute  grew  to  be  very  hot,  and  high  words  passed 
between  them  which  might  have  ended  in  blows,  if  not 
in  blood  and  slaughter,  had  not  the  prudence  and  mod- 
eration of  Roger  Conant,  at  that  time  there  present, 
and  Mr.  Peirse's  ^  interposition,  that  lay  just  by  with  his 
ship,  timely  prevented.  For  Mr.  Hewes  had  barricadoed 
his  company  with  hogsheads  on  the  stage  head,  while 
the  demandants  stood  upon  land,  and  might  easily  have 
been  cut  off;  but  the  ship's  crew,  by  advice,  promising 
to  help  them  to  build  another,  the  difference  was  thereby 
ended.  Captain  Standish  ^  had  been  bred  a  soldier  in 
the  Low  Countries,  and  never  entered  the  school  of  our 
Saviour  Christ,  or  of  John  Baptist,  his  harbinger,  or,  if 
he  was  ever  there,  had  forgot  his  first  lessons,  to  oifer 
violence  to  no  man,  and  to  part  with  the  cloak  rather 
than  needlessly  contend  for  the  coat,  though  taken  away 
without  order.  A  little  chimney  is  soon  fired;  so  was 
the  Plymouth  Captain,  a  man  of  very  little  stature,  yet 
of  a  very  hot  and  angry  temper.  The  fire  of  his  passion 
soon  kindled  and  blown  up  into  a  flame  by  hot  words, 
might  easily  have  consumed  all,  had  it  not  been  season- 
ably quenched." 

As  the  Plymouth  colonists  and  the  Dorchester  adven- 
turers had,  under  the  patent,  a  unity  of  interests,  touching 
all  intruders,^  and  Mr.  Peirse  was  their  tried  friend.  Cap- 
tain Standish  could  with  propriety  listen  to  their  advice. 
He  demanded  the  possession  of  the  property  of  his 
government,  withheld  without  right,  or  the  pretence  of 

*  The  influence  of  Mr.  Wm.  Peirse  should  not  be  overlooked  ;  he  had  been  a  firm 
friend  to  the  planters  —  had  aided  in  detecting  the  treachery  of  Lyford  and  Old- 
ham, and  his  advice  would  have  great  weight  with  Standish.  Prince,  149,  153 ; 
Hubbard,  110,  111. 

^  Kliot  has  a  good  notice  of  Standish.     Biog.  Diet. 

3  "  To  forbyd,  repcU,  repulse  and  resist  by  force  of  armes,"  was  authorized  by 
the  charter. 


CAPTAIN    STANDISH    JUSTIFIED.  47 

right,  and  wrested  from  them,  doubtless,  by  the  machi 
nations  of  Lyford.  These  circumstances,  and  the  charac- 
ter of  the  actors,  might  well  disturb  milder  tempers  than 
that  of  Standish,  and  he  deserved  praise  rather  than 
Hubbard's  censure,  for  his  Christian  endurance,  forbear- 
ing even  a  blow  under  such  an  outrage.  He  had  the 
approval  of  Bradford,  who  says  they  "  refused  to  restore 
it  without  fighting,  upon  which  we  let  them  keep  it,  and 
our  Governor  sends  some  planters  to  help  the  fishermen 
build  another."  ^ 

'  Prince,  15-1. 


CHAPTEE    VI. 

REVERSES    AT    CA^E    ANNE LOSSES THE     MERCHANTS    ABANDON    THE 

COLONY THE     COLONY     PURGED     OF     ITS    WORTHLESS     MEMBERS 

GOV.    CONANT    PREVENTS    ITS     DISSOLUTION THE    COLONY    REMOVED 

TO    NAUMKEAG INDIAN     HOSPITALITY GOV.     CONANt's     FIRMNESS 

SAVES    THE     COLONY JOHN     WOODBERY     SENT    AS     AGENT    TO    ENG- 
LAND. 

One  who  had  witnessed  several  unfortunate  attempts 
to  establish  plantations  on  this  coast,  enumerated  as  one 
of  "  three  things "  which  were  "  the  overthrow  and 
bane "  of  these  enterprises,  "  the  carelessness  of  those 
that  send  over  supplies  of  men  unto  them,  not  caring 
how  they  be  qualified,"  and  he  besought  "  such  as  had 
the  care  of  transporting  for  the  supply  and  furnishing  of 
plantations,  to  be  truly  careful  in  sending  such  as  might 
further  and  not  hinder  so  good  an  action."  ^ 

Lord  Bacon,  in  his  essay  on  "plantations"  says  that  "  it 
is  a  shameful  and  unblessed  thing  to  take  the  scum  to  be 
the  people  with  whom  you  plant ;  and  not  only  so,  but  it 
spoileth  the  plantation ;  for  they  will  ever  live  like  rogues 
and  not  fall  to  work,  but  be  lazy  and  do  mischief,  and 
spend  victuals,  and  he  quickly  weary ^  and  then  certify  over 
to  their  country  to  the  discredit  of  the  plantation  ;  "  and 
this  was  verified  in  less  than  fifty  years  after  it  was  writ- 

'  W'inslow's  "  Good  Newcs,"  1G24. 


CAUSES    OF    DISASTER    AT    CAPE    ANNE.  49 

ten,  in  the  colony  at  Cape  Anne.  The  "  Planters'  Plea  " 
itself  complains  that  "  the  ill  carriage  of  our  men  at 
land,"  in  two  years  and  a  half  had  cost  "  well  nigh  one 
thousand  pounds  charge,  and  never  yielded  one  hundred 
pounds  profit." 

Governor  Conant  found  it  difficult  to  repress  insubor- 
dination among  the  ill-chosen  men  sent  to  Cape  Anne. 
They  "fell  into  many  disorders  and  did  the  company 
little  service,"  which,  added  to  the  losses  by  fishing  and 
the  great  depreciation  in  the  value  of  their  shipping,  "  so 
far  discouraged  the  adventurers,  that  they  abandoned  the 
further  prosecution  of  the  design,  and  took  order  for  the 
dissolving  of  the  company  on  land,  and  sold  away  the 
shipping  and  other  provisions." 

There  is  no  discrepancy  in  the  narratives  of  Hubbard, 
on  the  autliority  of  Conant  and  some  of  his  associates, 
and  of  White  in  the  "  Planters'  Plea,"  though  each  fur- 
nishes details  omitted  by  the  other.  White  dwells  upon 
the  results  as  affecting  the  pecuniary  interests  of  the 
parties  in  England,  while  Hubbard  relates  the  social  in- 
cidents in  the  colony,  so  that  both  are  necessary  to  the 
completeness  of  the  history.  The  one  knew  the  history 
of  the  causes,  whose  effects  only  interest  the  other. 

The  former  says  the  "  land-men  were  ill  commanded," 
but  the  only  facts  which  we  have  are  in  Hubbard,  and 
they  reflect  great  credit  on  Conant's  administrative  talent 
and  his  public  spirit. 

The  adventurers  in  England  honorably  paid  the  wages 
of  the  planters  whom  they  had  employed  at  Cape  Anne, 
and  offered  them  a  passage  home  if  they  desired  to  re- 
turn, which  was  accepted  by  the  ill-behaved,  thriftless  or 
weak-minded  portion,  at  once  relieving  the  infant  colony 
of  the  incubus  of  misrule  and  waste,  so  depressing  to 
all  its  interests.  Thus  happily  freed  from  the  drones  and 
7 


50  THE  COLONY    RELIEVED  OF    ITS    BURDEN. 

scum  of  their  society,  the  colony,  though  greatly  lessen- 
ed in  numbers,  yet  really  gained  in  strength,  and  now 
consisted  only  of  the  honest  and  industrious,  who  were 
resolved  to  remain  faithful  to  the  great  object. 

The  author  of  the  "  Planters'  Plea  "  indulges  in  reflec- 
tions appropriate  to  this  stage  of  the  history,  when  the 
location  of  the  colony  was  about  to  be  changed,  and 
Cape  Anne,  the  scene  of  the  first  act  in  the  history  of  Mas- 
sachusetts, was  about  to  be  abandoned.  "  Experience," 
he  saith,  "hath  taught  us  that  in  building  houses  the 
first  stones  of  the  foundation  are  buried  underground  and 
are  not  seen,  so  in  planting  colonies  the  first  stocks  em- 
ployed that  way  are  consumed,  although  they  serve  for  a 
foundation  to  the  work." 

The  abandonment  of  the  colony  by  the  "  adventurers  " 
in  England,  involved  merely  a  withdrawal  of  any  further 
pecuniary  aid  to  the  planters,  and  a  relinquishment  of 
such  interests  as  they  may  have  had  in  the  charter. 
Whenever,  by  non-fulfilment  of  its  conditions,  that  be- 
came void,  the  colonists  would  still  possess  all  the  rights, 
assured  by  the  common  law  to  every  Englishman.  "  Had 
they  emigrated  with  the  consent  of  the  state,  but  without 
a  charter,  they  would  have  been  fully  entitled  to  enjoy 
their  former  immunities,  as  completely  as  they  could  ex- 
ercise them  where  they  freely  placed  themselves."  ^  The 
colonists  were,  from  that  date,  free  of  any  obligation  or 
control  of  the  adventurers.  The  trials,  temptations,  and 
hardships  at  Cape  Anne,  had  purged  the  company  of  all 
but  a  brave  and  resolute  few.  With  these  faithful  com- 
panions, Governor  Conant,  "  as  one  inspired  by  some  su- 
perior instinct,"  frustrated  the  ^'  order  for  the  dissolving 
of  the  company  on  land,"  and  secured  to  it  the  honor  of 

*  Chalmer's  Political  Annals,  i.  14L 


DESIGNED  AS  A  REFUGE  FROM  RELIGIOUS  OPPRESSION.    51 

being  the  first  permanent  colony  on  the  soil  of  the  Mas- 
sachusetts Company. 

Cape  Anne  had  been  chosen  as  the  seat  of  the  colony, 
for  its  supposed  combination  of  facilities  for  both  fishing 
and  planting  ;  but  Governor  Conant,  not  finding  it  adapt- 
ed to  the  wants  of  a  plantation,  had  in  the  meanwhile  ^ 
inquired  respecting,  and  perhaps  visited,  a  more  commo- 
dious place  four  or  five  leagues  distant  to  the  south-west, 
on  the  other  side  of  a  creek  called  Nahum-keike,^  or 
Naumkeag,  better  adapted  to  the  purpose. 

Hubbard  says  that  Conant,  "  secretly  conceiving  in  his 
mind,  that  in  following  times  (as  hath  since  fallen  out)  it 
might  prove  a  receptacle  for  such,  as  upon  the  account  of 
religion,  would  be  willing  to  begin  a  foreign  plantation  in 
this  part  of  the  world,  he  gave  some  intimation  of  it  to 
his  friends  in  England.  Wherefore  that  Reverend  person, 
Mr.  White,  (under  God,  one  of  the  chief  founders  of  the 
Massachusetts  colony  in  New  England,)  being  grieved  in 
his  spirit  that  so  good  a  work  should  be  sufiered  to  fall  to 
the  ground  by  the  adventurers  thus  abruptly  breaking  off", 
did  write  to  Mr.  Conant  not  so  to  desert  the  business,  faith- 
fully promising  that  if  himself,^  with  three  others,  (whom 
he  knew  to  be  honest  and  prudent  men,  viz.  John  Wood- 
bery,  John  Balch,  and  Peter  Palfreys,  employed  by  the 
adventurers,)  would  stay  at  Naumkeag,  and  give  timely 
notice  thereof,  he  would  provide  a  patent  for  them,  and 
likewise  send  them  whatever  they  should  write  for,  either 
men  or  provision,  or  goods  wherewith  to  trade  with  the 


1  Hubbard,  108. 

^  JVaumkeag  retained  its  Indian  name  until  about  Jul}',  1020,  -when  it  was  called 
Salem.  As  this  is  tlie  history  of  events  prior  to  that  period,  the  aboriginal  title 
will  be  used.     Rev.  John  Higginson's  Letter. 

3  The  whole  negotiation  contemplates  Governor  Conant's  remaining  at  the  hrad 
of  the  colony. 


52  REMOVAL   TO    NAUMKEAG. THE    COMPACT. 

Indians.  Answer  was  returned  that  they  would  all  stay 
on  those  terms/  entreating  that  they  might  be  encouraged 
accordingly."  On  the  faith  of  this  engagement,  Governor 
Conant  and  his  associates,  in  the  fall  of  the  year  1626, 
removed  to  Naumkeag,  and  there  erected  houses,  cleared 
the  forests,  and  prepared  the  ground  for  the  cultivation  of 
maize,  tobacco,^  and  the  products  congenial  to  the  soil. 
In  after  years,  one  of  the  planters  in  his  story  of  the  first 
days  of  the  colony,  said,  "  when  we  settled,  the  Indians 
never  then  molested  us,  *  *  *  but  shewed  themselves 
very  glad  of  our  company  and  came  and  planted  by  us, 
and  often  times  came  to  us  for  shelter,  saying  they  were 
afraid  of  their  enemy  Indians  up  in  the  country,  and  we 
did  shelter  them  when  they  fled  to  us,  and  we  had  their 
free  leave  to  build  and  plant  where  we  have  taken  up 
lands."  ^  The  curious  inquirer  may  be  guided  to  the 
exact  locality,  the  tongue  of  land  which  they  first  occu- 
pied at  Salem. 

"  Yet  it  seems,"  Hubbard  continues,  "  before  they  re- 
ceived any  return,  according  to  their  desires,  the  three 
last  mentioned  began  to  recoil,  and  repenting  of  their  en- 
gagement to  stay  at  Naumkeag,  for  fear  of  the  Indians 
and  other  inconveniences,  resolved  rather  to  go  all  to 
Virginia ;  especially  because  Mr.  Lyford,  their  minister, 
upon  a  loving  invitation,  was  thither  bound.  But  Mr. 
Conant,  though  never  so  earnestly  pressed  to  go  along 
with  them,  peremptorily  declared  his  mind  to  wait  the 
providence  of  God  in  that  place  where  now  they  were, 


*  How  far  these  terms  were  complied  with,  will  appear  presently. 

^  "  Tobacco  may  there  be  planted,  but  not  with  that  profit  as  in  some  other  places; 
neither  were  it  profitable  there  to  follow  it  though  the  increase  were  equal,  because 
fish  is  a  better  and  richer  commodity,"  to  be  had  in  "great  abundance."  Wins- 
lowe's  "  Good  Newes."  1624. 

a  Felfs  Salem,  i.  46,  78,  101. 


GOVERNOR    CON  ant's    FIRMNESS    AND    FAITH.  53 

yea,  though  all  the  rest  should  forsake  him :  not  doubt- 
hig,  as  he  said,  but  if  they  departed,  he  should  soon 
see  more  company."  The  other  three,  observing  his  con- 
fident resolution,  at  last  concurred  with  him,  and  soon 
after  sent  John  Woodbery  to  England,  to  procure  neces- 
saries for  a  plantation.  At  this  period,  as  Dr.  Cotton 
Mather  accurately  observes,  "  the  design  for  awhile  al- 
most fell  unto  the  ground." 

Mr.  Hubbard's  idea  that  Governor  Conant  was  "  as 
one  inspired  by  some  superior  instinct,"  seems  to  be  the 
only  just  view  of  his  course  at  this  crisis.  "  Like  Abra- 
ham when  he  was  called  to  go  out  into  a  place,  which  he 
should  after  receive  for  an  inheritance,"  so  "  he  sojourned 
in  the  land  of  promise,  in  a  strange  country."  He  seems 
to  have  felt  that  it  was  God's  own  plantation.^  With  the 
eye  of  faith  he  saw  that  the  "  little  one  should  become  a 
thousand,  and  the  small  one  a  strong  nation,  and  that  the 
Lord  would  hasten  it  in  his  time,"  when  he  so  "  peremp- 
torily declared  his  mind  to  wait  the  providence  of  God  in 
that  place  where  they  now  were,  yea,  though  all  the  rest 
should  forsake  him,  not  doubting  but  if  they  departed  he 
should  soon  have  more  company."  ^ 


^  ••  It  is  the  sinfiillest  thing  in  the  world  to  forsake  or  desert  a  plantation  once  in 
forwardness."     Bacon. 

-  He  was  worthy  of  the  elegant  compliment  of  Dr.  Pridcaux,  of  Exeter  College,  to 
Dr.  John  Conant,  while  a  student  at  Oxford  —  his  namesake,  and  kindred  in  char- 
acter as  well  as  in  blood, —  "  Conanti  nihil  difficile."  This  eminent  Divine  was 
also  of  Devonshire,  of  an  ancient  family  ;  but  probably  not  the  one  known  to  White, 
as  in  1623-4,  he  was  but  a  youth  of  sixteen  years,  under  the  care  of  his  uncle,  Rev. 
John  Conant,  who  had  a  living  at  Lymington,  in  Somersetsliire.  Middleton's  Biog. 
Evan.  iv.  C4  ;  Biog.  Diet.  Lond.  IT'Jb,  iii.  186  ;  Noucomfurmist's  Mem,  i.  2i!'J. 


CHAPTEE    VII. 

THE    COLONY    IN     1627 GOV.    CONANt's    CHARACTER   AND    SERVICES — ■* 

WOODBERy's     MISSION    TO    ENGLAND FINDS     MEMBERS    OF    THE    OLD 

DORCHESTER     C03IPANY A    NEW  COMPANY    ORGANIZED A     PATENT 

OBTAINED THOMAS  DUDLEY,  ESQ.  AND  HIS  FRIENDS  BECOME  INTER- 
ESTED  THE  COMPANY  HAD  NO  DEFINITE  NAME  HUMBLE  BEGIN- 
NING OF  THE  STATE  RECORDS WOODBERY's  RETURN  TO  THE  COL- 
ONY  CHARACTER    OF   THE    COMPANY   IN  ENGLAND JOHN    ENDECOTT 

ARRIVES    AT    SALEM    AND    SUPERSEDES      CONANT NEW     IMPULSE     TO 

COLONIZATION. 

Such  was  Massachusetts  in  the  year  1627  ;  how  hum- 
ble, of  how  little  moment  can  be  its  failure  or  success ! 
Yet  in  the  eye  of  history,  beholding  the  vast  results 
emanating  from  this  mere  speck  on  the  stream  of  time,  it 
is  surrounded  with  a  kind  of  moral  grandeur,  a  sublimity, 
that  never  elevated  thrones,  nor  pertained  to  conquests. 

Governor  Conant,  in  his  dignity,  independence,  recti- 
tude, and  trust  in  God,  here  shadowed  forth  the  character 
and  future  of  New  England  as  developed  in  and  to  her 
children  ;  and  it  is  pleasant  to  know  that  he  lived  to  see 
the  hamlet  expand  into  the  most  important  colony  ^  on 
the  American  coast. 

This  was  a  sufficient,  yet  his  only  reward.     In  the 


^  The  term  "  colonies  "  was  retained  in  the  Declaration  of  Independence,  July 
4th,  177G,  and  in  use  until  the  "  people  of  the  United  States"  established  the  Con- 
slitulio/i.    Miissachusetts  was  called  a  "  Province  "  in  the  charter  of  1(392. 


CONANT's  RETROSrECT. WOODBERY,  AGENT  TO  ENGLAND.    65 

pride  of  strength  and  prosperity,  he  who  had  laid  the 
foundation  of  the  state,  and  whose  Christian  faith  and 
courage  had  saved  it  in  the  hour  of  peril,  was  left  in 
neglect  and  obscurity. 

Nearly  half  a  century  later,  the  venerable  man,  in  the 
evening  of  his  life,  thinking,  perhaps,  that  posterity 
might  award  to  him  the  justice  withheld  in  his  life  time, 
drew  up  a  memorial  to  the  legislature,  being,  as  he  said, 
"  one  of  the  first,  if  not  the  very  first,  that  resolved  and 
made  good  any  settlement,  under  God,  in  matter  of  plan- 
tation, with  my  family  in  this  collony  of  the  Massachu- 
setts bay,  and  have  been  instrumental  both  for  founding 
and  carrying  on  the  same,  and  when  in  the  infancy  there- 
of it  ivas  in  great  hassard  ofheing  deserted^  I  was  a  means^ 
through  grace  assisting  me,  to  stop  the  jiight  of  those  feiv 
that  were  heere  with  me,  and  that  by  my  utter  deniall  to  goe 
away  with  them,  who  would  have  gone  either  for  England, 
or  mostly  for  Virginia,  hut  thereon  stayed  to  the  hassard  of 
our  lives" 

After  a  residence  in  the  country  of  about  three  years, 
Mr.  Woodbery,  being  familiar  with  their  condition  and 
prospects,  and  possessing  their  confidence,  was,  as  before- 
named,  deputed  as  their  agent  to  England,  with  the  im- 
portant trust  of  perfecting  the  arrangements,  on  condition 
of  which,  the  colony  was  removed^  to  Naumkeag,  as 
stated  in  the  correspondence  between  Governor  Conant 
and  the  Reverend  John  White. 

In  the  winter  of  the  year  1621,  Mr.  Woodbery  de- 
parted on   his   mission,  and,  it  will  be  inferred,  on  his 

*  I  infer  from  Hubbard's  account  that  Conant,  having  "  made  some  inquiries  " 
about  Naumkeak,  proposed,  on  certain  conditions  named  in  the  letter,  "  to  liis 
friends  in  England,"  to  remove  thither  ;  that  in  anticipution  vf  their  accep1ance,\\e 
did  remove,  and  while  there  received  White's  letter,  agreeing  to  the  proposal :  so 
that  the  couditions  were  precedent  to  the  removal.  Hubbard's  Hist,  of  N.  E.  1U7, 
lOd. 


56  PROCEEDINGS   IN    ENGLAND. THOMAS   DUDLEY. 

arrival  in  England,  at  once  sought  out  Mr.  White,  and 
disclosed  to  him  the  object  of  his  \dsit. 

They  exerted  themselves  diligently  in  behalf  of  the 
colonists  to  supply  their  present  necessities,  and  to  pro- 
cure a  patent  for  the  territory,  additions  to  their  numbers, 
and  whatever  pertained  to  the  permanence  of  a  colony 
on  the  wild  shores  of  the  New  World.  It  was  found 
that  some  members  of  the  Dorchester  Company  "  still 
continued  their  desire  to  set  forward  the  plantation  of  a 
colony  there,^  conceiving  that  if  some  more  cattle  were 
sent  over  to  those  few  men  left  behind,  they  might  not 
only  be  the  means  of  the  comfortable  subsisting  of  such 
as  were  already  in  the  country,  but  of  inviting  some 
other  of  their  friends  and  acquaintances  to  come  over 
to  them,  and  adventured  to  send  over  twelve  kine  and 
bulls  more ;  and  conferring  casually  with  some  gentle- 
men of  London,  moved  them  to  add  unto  them  as 
many  more." 

Among  these  gentlemen,  WTre  Sir  Henry  Eos  well 
and  Sir  John  Young,  Thomas  Southcoat,  John  Hum- 
phrey —  whom  we  knew  as  treasurer  of  the  old  Dorchester 
company  —  John  Endecott  and  Simon  Whetcomb,  "  who 
presenting  the  names  of  honest  and  religious  men,  easily 
obtained  their  first  desires  "  of  the  council  for  New  Eng- 
land, who  granted  them  about  the  end  of  the  parliament 
of  the  iii  ^  of  Charles  First,  on  the  nineteenth  of  March, 
162^,  "a  patent  of  some  lands  in  the  Massachusetts 
Bay." 

About  a  year  previous,  Thomas  Dudley,  Esquire,  and 
some  of  his  friends  "  being   together,^  in  Lincolnshire, 


I  Planters'  Plea. 

-"  About  the  year  1627."  —  Dudley's  Letter.  Hubbard  states  this  "  not  long 
after"  the  Council's  grant,  which  would  be  iu  the  year  1G28.  Dudley  is  the  best 
authority. 


"the  NEW  ENGLAND  COMPANY." A  NEW  CHARTER.  57 

fell  into  some  discourse  about  New  England,  and  the 
planting  of  the  gospel  there."  They  corresponded  with 
gentlemen  in  London,  and  members  of  the  Dorchester 
Company ;  after  some  negotiation,  these  parties  combined 
their  interests,  and  purchased  all  the  Dorchester  interests 
and  improvements  in  New  England,  including  their  pa- 
tent from  the  council.  Whether  that  instrument  desig- 
nated the  grantees  by  any  special  name  or  title  is 
unknown ;  ^  they  styled  themselves  in  official  documents, 
"  The  New  England  Company."  Cape  Anne  was  includ- 
ed in  this  grant  which  superseded  the  patent  from  Lord 
Sheffeild,  that  being  void  and  "  useless,"  ^  by  non-fulfil- 
ment of  its  conditions,  and  the  land  abandoned  as  un- 
suitable to  the  design.  These  gentlemen  adopted  efficient 
measures  to  strengthen  the  first  settlement  at  Naumkeag, 
and  to  establish  another  at  Massachusetts,  distant  about 
fifteen  miles  to  the  south-west.  They  purchased  large 
stores  of  apparel,  provisions  and  arms.  In  a  memoran- 
dum of  what  they  were  "  to  provide  to  send  for  New 
England,"  were  mentioned,  first  "ministers,"  then  the 
"  patent  under  seal,  men  skillful  in  making  of  pitch,  of 
salt,  vine  planters,"  culinary  utensils,  and  seeds  of  a 
variety  of  grains,  fruits  and  vegetables. 


»  Previous  to  the  fourth  of  March,  1629,  they  had  no  uniform  designation.  "Tho 
Company  of  Adventurers  for  New  England  in  America,"  "  The  Adventurers  for 
Plantacon  intended  att  Massachusetts  Bay  in  New  England,"  '•  The  Company  in 
New  England,"  "  The  New  England  Company,"  and  other  appellations  were  used. 
If  regard  be  had  to  7iames  ratlier  than  facts,  it  may  safely  be  questioned  whether 
the  colonial  records,  prior  to  the  fourth  of  March,  1628,  should  be  called  the  "Mas- 
sachusetts Records  ; "  but  this  would  be  frivolous.  Under  all  these  phases  and 
names,  we  trace  the  history  of  one  and  the  same  colony,  which  in  and  after  the 
sixth  year  of  its  settlement,  and  by  its  second  charter,  was  designated  "  Massa- 
chusetts." The  oath  of  Gov.  Endecott  was  to  maintain  "  the  government  and 
company,"  etc.  ;  that  of  his  council  to  maintain  "  the  Crmmonwtalth  and  Corpo- 
racon  of  the  Governor  and  Company,"  etc.    Felt,  i.  51'1,  515. 

2  Hubbard,  110. 


68      MASSACHUSETTS    RECORD. WOODBERY's    RETURN. 

Such  was  the  commencement  of  the  records  of  the 
State.  They  were  begun  by  a  few  "  honest  and  religious 
men,"  meeting  in  an  humble  dwelling,  in  an  obscure 
street  in  London,  to  devise  means  of  assistance  to  the 
colony  —  the  handfull  of  "  planters "  on  the  shore  of 
New  England ;  the  next  entries  on  its  pages  were  of  the 
doings  in  the  cabin  of  an  emigrant  ship,  at  anchor  in 
Massachusetts  Bay,  or  in  the  solitary  dwelling  on  the 
neighboring  shore  of  Mishawam.^ 

Two  hundred  and  twenty-five  years  afterward,  by  order 
of  their  legal  successors,  —  the  legislature  of  Massachusetts, 
• —  assembled  in  Boston,  the  metropolis  of  New  England, 
they  were  published  as  the  earliest  extant  ^  parliamentary 
records  of  the  Commonwealth ;  a  fitting  tribute  to  the 
memory  of  her  founders.  The  contrasts  at  these  two 
periods  of  time,  furnish  a  theme  for  the  study  of  her  sons, 
full  of  instruction. 

Mr.  Woodbery  left  England  in  the  next  spring,  with 
his  son  Humphry,  a  youth  of  about  twenty  years  of  age, 
and  arrived  at  Naumkeag  in  the  following  June,  with  the 
cheering  intelligence  of  the  new  company  and  prepara- 
tions in  England.  During  his  absence  of  about  six 
months,  the  colonists,  who  still  called  themselves  the 
"  servants  of  the  Dorchester  Company,"  had  made  im- 
provements at  Naumkeag,  and  prepared  the  way  for  those 
who  might  join  them. 


*  Charlestown. 

^  It  is  equally  probable  that  of  both  Conant's  and  Endecott's  proceedings  some 
minutes  or  written  records  were  kept,  for  the  use  of  the  companies  in  England  ; 
neither  are  preserved,  though  the  latter  are  known  to  have  existed.  So  small  a 
number  would  require  only  a  few  regulations  —  the  rudiments  of  government.  It 
is  certain  that  Conant  and  Endecott  would  use  the  authority  they  had  ;  the  com- 
plaint of  ill  government  at  Cape  Anne,  and  the  difficulties  with  the  Brownes  at 
Naumkeag  prove  that  they  did,  and  ''  Endecott's  laws  "  are  mentioned.  Time  ob- 
literates the  foot-prints,  yet  we  know  the  intermediate  steps  were  taken. 


ENDECOTT's    arrival. THE  DORCHESTER  COMPATs'Y.    59 

The  company  in  England  included  men  of  rank  and 
wealth,  and  its  affairs  were  conducted  with  an  energy, 
strength  and  harmony  in  marked  contrast  with  those  of 
the  council  of  Plymouth,  whose  leaders  were  dishearten- 
ed, and  whose  authority  was  weakened  by  the  difficulties 
already  referred  to.  They  commissioned  Captain  John 
Endecott  "  to  carry  on  the  plantation  of  the  Dorchester 
agents  at  Naumkeag,  or  Salem,  and  make  way  for  the 
settling  of  another  colony  in  the  Massachusetts."  On 
the  twentieth  of  June,  1628,  with  his  wife  and  a  few 
planters,  Captain  Endecott  sailed  from  Weymouth,  in 
the  ship  Abigail,  of  which  Henry  Gauden  was  master, 
bound  for  Naumkeag,^  where  he  arrived  on  the  sixth 
of  September,  at  about  the  close  of  the  first  lustre  of 
the  colonial  history,  and  about  two  years  and  a  half 
after  the  removal  from  Cape  Anne. 

More  than  half  a  century  afterwards,  one  of  Ende- 
cott's  fellow  passengers,  Richard  Brackenbury,  related, 
from  memory,  many  interesting  particulars  of  these 
early  days  of  the  colony,  some  of  which  he  had  from 
the  lips  of  the  old  planters  themselves,  who  declared 
to  their  new  associates  that,  "  they  came  over  upon 
the  account  of  a  company  in  England,  called  by  us," 
Brackenbury  said,  "by  the  name  of  the  Dorchester 
Company,  or  Dorchester  merchants,"  for  whom  they 
had  built  many  houses  at  Naumkeag  and  Cape  Anne. 
He  added,  that  having  waited  upon  Mr.  Endecott,  in 
his  attendance  upon  the  company  of  the  Massachusetts 
patentees,  when  they  kept  their  court  in  Cornewell 
street  in  London,  he  understood    that  this  company  of 


'  Neal,  upon  a  careful  examination,  says  they  arrived  at  the  place  which  Mr. 
Conant  and  the  Dorchester  agents  had  marked  out  for  them  ;  it  was  called  by  the 
natives  Neumlctak,  but  the  new  planters  called  it  Salem.    Hist,  of  N.  E  ,  i.  120. 


60         COLONIAL   PROSPERITY. CONANT   SUPERSEDED. 

London  had  bought^  out  the  right  of  the  Dorchester 
merchants^  in  New  England,  and  "that  Mr.  Endecott 
had  power  to  take  possession  of  their  right  in  New 
England,  which  Mr.  Endecott  did  ! "  Brackenbury  was 
an  eye-witness  to  this,  and,  without  doubt,  he  suited 
the  word  to  the  action. 

About  the  same  year  they  took  possession  of  the  land 
on  the  shore  north  of  Salem,  then  "  commonly  called 
the  Cape  Anne  ferry,"  or  side  now  Beverly,  by  dividing  it 
into  lots  for  cultivation,  and  by  cutting  thatch  for  their 
houses. 

Governor  Conant  was  of  course  superseded  ^  by  Gover- 
nor Endecott,  who,  as  the  representative  of  the  company, 
assumed  the  control  of  the  territory  and  improvements 
made  by  the  first  planters  during  the  five  years  they  had 
occupied  it.  The  new  official  reported  to  England  so 
favorably,  that  there  was  soon  no  want  of  volunteers  for 
New  England,  and  in  reply  he  received  letters  adapted  to 
put  new  life  into  the  colony. 

^  Hubbard's  "  Present  State  of  New  England,"  London,  1677,  p.  4,  says  "  pur- 
chased." Hubbard's  Hist,  of  N.  E.  109;  Archaelogia  Americana,  vol.  iii.  p.  53  ; 
opinion  of  S.  F.  Haven,  Esq. 

2  Members  of  the  old  Dorchester  Company  were  parties  to  the  next  enterprise. 
John  Humphries,  treasurer  of  the  Dorchester  Company,  was  a  member  of  the  second 
oi'ganization.  Sir  Henry  Roswell  and  his  five  associates  were  residents  of  Dorches- 
ter or  its  vicinity. 

3  There  is  no  reason  to  doubt  that  Conant  continued  in  authority  at  the  head  of 
the  colony,  until  Endecott  arrived  ;  this  is  generally  conceded,  nor  do  I  find  an  ex- 
ception to  this  opinion.  Felt's  Salem,  i.  43  ;  N.  E.  Hist.  Gen.  Reg.  ii.  238  ;  Sav- 
age's Winthrop,  1853,  ii.  200,  n.  2. 


CHAPTER    VIII. 

REASONS     FOR     OBTAINING    THE     KING's     AFFIRMATION    OF    THE    PATENT 

DISTINCTION     BETWEEN     THE     COMPANY      IN     ENGLAND     AND      THE 

COLONY CRADOCK      NOT     GOVERNOR      OF     THE     COLONY CHARTER 

SENT    TO    ENDECOTT UNION    OF    THE     OLD     AND    NEW    PLANTERS 

NAMES    OF    THE    PIONEERS DISPUTES    BETWEEN    THE    OLD    AND  NEW 

COLONISTS DANGERS     OF     THE     COLONY OLDHAm's     INTRIGUES 

gorges'   CONFLICTING  PATENT GOVERNOR   CONANT  RESTORES  PEACE 

INJUSTICE    TO    CONANT    AND    HIS    ASSOCIATES ALLEVIATING    CON- 
SIDERATIONS  CHARACTERS  OF  CONANT  AND  ENDECOTT COMPANY'S 

VINDICATION HARDSHIPS    OF   THE    OLD    PLANTERS. 

The  authority  of  the  council  for  New  England  had 
become  so  questionable,  that  after  Endecott's  departure, 
the  company  obtained  the  royal  confirmation  of  the 
council's  grant  by  letters  patent,  under  the  broad  seal  of 
England,  issued  on  the  fourth  of  March,  in  the  year 
1621,  and  in  that  the  colony  was  first  legally  designated 
as  "  of  the  Massachusetts  Bay."  Before  that  time,  Ende- 
cott  may  or  may  not  have  exceeded  ^  the  authority  incident 

^  As  already  shown,  the  council  for  New  England  had  ample  powers  of  govern- 
ment ;  it  has  been  generally  and  confidently  asserted  that  they  passed  only  title 
to  land,  in  the  grant  of  1627,  but  this  is  erroneous,  for,  as  appears  by  recital  of 
some  of  its  provisions  in  subsequent  charters,  it  conveyed  not  only  the  title,  but 
also  the  right  of  "  planting,  ruling,  ordering  and  governing  "  in  the  territory  con- 
veyed, so  that  the  king  only  confirmed  the  act  of  the  council.  Perhaps  the  enfeebled 
condition  of  the  council  rendered  any  special  exercise  of  authority  inexpedient  until 
ratified  by  the  king.  Hutchinson  says  that  "  the  patent  from  the  council  of  Ply- 
mouth gave  no  powers  of  government,''  but  as  that  patent  is  not  preserved,  Hutch- 
inson's assertion  amounts  to  only  an  inference  which  the  above  authorities  prove 


62    ENDECOTT  T*  GOVERNOR  UNDER  2''  CHARTER. 

to  the  ownership  of  the  soil,  but  he  was  continued  in 
office,  and  enjoys  the  distinction  of  being  the^  first  Gov- 
ernor in  the  colony  under  this  the  second  or  Massachu- 
setts charter. 

The  pecuniary  interests  were  managed  by  the  corpora- 
tion in  England,  of  which  Matthew  Cradock  was  the  first 
Governor.  Of  him  Mr.  Savage"  says,  "he  was  long 
honored  in  our  annual  registers  as  first  Governor  of  the 
colony ;  yet,  as  he  was  in  fact  only  the  head  of  a  com- 
mercial company  in  England,  not  ruler  of  the  people,  his 
services  are  adequately  acknowledged  without  retaining 
his  name  in  that  most  respectable  list."  ^ 

The  terms  of  the  charter  provide  for  a  "  duplicate  or 
exemplification"  of  the  instrument,  both  to  be  of  equal 
authority.  One  was  sent  to  Endecott  and  is  preserved  at 
Salem,  where  civil  government  was  first  exercised  under 
its  warrant,  and  the  other,  brought  over  by  Winthrop  a 
year  afterwards,  is  in  the  Capitol.  It  was  designed  to 
grant  the  same  immunities  that  had  been  given  originally 
to  the  council  for  New  England,'*  and  which  were  secured 
to  the  Plymouth  colonists,  and  the  "  Dorchester  Com- 
pany "  under  them,  by  the  previous  Cape  Anne  charter. 

Upon  Endecott's  arrival,  his  own  men  being  united 
"  with  those  which  were  formerly  planted  in  the  country 
into  one  body,  they  made  up  in  all  not  much  above  fifty  or 


to  be  incorrect.  Hist,  of  Mass.  1795,  i.  16,  17 ;  Washburn's  Judicial  History  of 
Massachusetts,  10. 

*  Savage,  in  Winthrop,  1853, .vol.  i.  p.  30,  note  1,  says  that  Endecott's  "  commis- 
sion from  the  Company  to  act  as  Governor,  was,  of  course,  superseded  by  the  ar- 
rival of  Winthrop  with  the  charter,"  thus  recoa;iiizing  his  precedence;  but  by 
the  provisions  of  the  charter  itself,  the  one  sent  to  Endecott  was  of  equal  authority 
and  dignity  with  that  brought  by  Winthrop  a  year  afterwards. 

2  Winthrop,  1853,  vol.  i.  p.  2,  note  2. 

'  The  Massachusetts  llegistcr  for  1853,  has  an  accurate  table  of  the  Governors, 
except  omitting  Roger  Conaut  at  its  liead,  prepared  by  N.  B.  Shurtlelf,  M.  D. 

''Chahner's  Political  Annals,  i.  13!),  147. 


THE    PIONEERS    OF   MASSACHUSETTS.  63 

sixty  persons."  ^  There  soon  arose  a  controversy,  exciting 
great  animosity  between  the  old  Dorchester  planters  and 
their  new  agent,  Mr.  Endecott,  and  his  company,  and 
with  good  reason. 

They  had  acquired  possession  of  the  country,  and  sub- 
dued it  to  their  wants  by  years  of  toil,  privation,  and 
hazard  of  life,  under  the  guidance  of  their  honored  and 
beloved  Conant,  .who  was  now  summoned  to  surrender 
the  fruits  of  their  labors,  that  others  might  reap  where 
they  had  sown.  Let  us  do  honor  to  this  noble  band  of 
pioneers.  Verily,  they  were  the  Fathers  of  Massachu- 
setts, and  their  names  ^  deserve  an  honorable  place  in  her 
chronicles. 

Roger  Conant,  Governor. 
William  Allen,  John  Balcii, 

Thomas  Gray,  Walter  Knight, 

Richard  Norman,  Richard  Norman,  Jr., 

Peter  Palfray,  John  Tylly, 

John   Woodbery. 

Several  circumstances  rendered  this  a  peculiarly  critical 
period,  which  a  mercenary  man  could  have  turned  to  his 
own  advantage.  As  early  as  the  fall  of  the  year  1622, 
the  Council  for  New  England,  "  for  and  in  respect  of  the 

*  Mr.  Felt,  who  is  good  authority,  says  that  in  1626,  after  Lyford  left  Salem  for 
Virginia,  there  "probably  remained  30  souls  of  all  ages."  Coll.  Amer.  Stat.  Ass. 
i.  138  ;  Hist.  Salem,  43,  75-80.  The  names  of  some  of  them  may  be  found  in 
Drake's  History  of  Boston,  p.  57.  Josselyn  found  "not  above  twenty  or  thirty 
houses  "  in  Boston,  as  late  <i9  1638. 

2  This  list  is  gathered  from  vol.  i.  167-176,  History  of  Salera  by  Mr.  Felt,  whose 
diligence  has  rescued  from  oblivion  probably  all  the  names  of  that  company  which 
can  be  discovered ;  perhaps  one  third  or  one  quarter  part  of  the  whole.  Calvert, 
Lord  Baltimore's  Colony  in  Newfoundland,  in  August,  1622,  numbered  only  thirty- 
two  persons;  the  colony  at  Sagadahock,  in  1607,  consisted  of  forty-five  persons;  the 
Virginia  Colony  was  reduced  to  sixty  persons  in  1610.  Plymouth  Colony  numbered 
but  fifty  people  in  1621.  Sir  Richard  Grenvillc  left  at  Roanoke,  in  15S(1,  only  Jif teen 
men.  Bartholomew  Gosnold,  in  his  New  England  expedition  of  1602,  took  out  only 
twelve  to  "  remayne  there  for  population." 


64    THE  CRISIS. GOV.  CONANT's  INTEGRITY  AND  PRUDENCE. 

good  and  special  service  done  by  Sir  Ferdinando  Gorges, 
Knight,  to  the  plantation  from  the  first  attempt  thereof" 
unto  that  time,  and  for  £160  sterling  paid  by  his  son 
Kobert,  had  issued  to  the  latter  a  patent  of  the  land 
"  knowne  by  the  name  of  Messachustack,"  on  the  north 
side  of  the  bay,  "  knowne  by  the  name  of  Messachuset," 
and  bounded  on  the  coast  by  a  direct  line  of  ten  English 
miles  to  the  north-east,  and  extending  thirty  miles  into 
the  main  land.^  Gorges  had  attempted  to  establish  a 
colony  within  the  bounds  of  his  patent,  which  he  had 
taken  possession  of  in  person,  but  was  unsuccessful. 
Probably  some  of  the  members  of  that  plantation  had 
joined  that  at  Naumkeag.  At  this  juncture,  John  Old- 
ham, whose  character  has  been  revealed  to  the  reader,^ 
held  the  Gorges  patent  which  was  included  in  and  con- 
flicted with  the  company's  title.  He  could  readily  gain 
from  among  the  disaffected,  adherents  to  his  own  in- 
terests. The  company  in  England  were  fearful  that  he 
would  "  be  ready  to  draw  a  party  to  himself  there,"  and 
wrote  to  Endecott  "  you  may  use  the  best  means  you  can 
to  settle  an  agreement  with  the  old  planters,  so  as  they 
may  not  hearken  to  Mr.  Oldham's  dangerous,  though 
vain  propositions  to  form  a  settlement  in  Massachusetts." 

Hubbard  says  that  the  troubles  were  "  quietly  com- 
posed by  the  prudent  moderation  of  Mr.  Conant,  agent 
he/ore  for  the  Dorchester  merchants ;  that  so  tneum  and 
tuum,  that  divide  the  world,  should  not  disturb  the  peace 
of  good  Christians,  that  came  so  far  to  provide  a  place 
where  to  live  together  in  Christian  amity  and  concord."^ 

Governor  Conant  had  before  given  distinguished  evi- 

»  Gorges'  Description  of  N.  E.  34,  37. 

2  Pages  2-4-27. 

3  Hubbard  seems  to  have  understood  that  the  new  and  old  company  were  the 
same ;  this  ia  true,  sub  modo :  the  Dorchester  interests  constituted  an  important 
portion  of  the  new  organization.     Hist,  of  N.  E.  lOrf,  109. 


GOVERNOR  CONANT  AND  THE  NEW  COMPANY.     65 

dence  of  his  peculiar  qualification  for  his  office,  in  allay- 
ing the  difficulty  at  Cape  Anne,  and  in  his  success  in 
saving  the  colony  from  utter  ruin  in  the  removal  to 
Salem  ;  but  here  he  developed  his  character  in  a  nobler 
view  than  ever  before ;  exhibiting  a  public  virtue  rarely 
equalled,  solicitous  for  the  welfare  of  the  colony  alone, 
and  concealing  his  own  sense  of  ingratitude  and  injustice, 
he  subdued  the  resentment  of  his  associates,  and  by  his 
personal  influence  restored  peace  and  safety.^ 

The  conditions  on  which  he  had  agreed  to  remain  were 
"  a  patent  for  them,  likewise  whatever  they  should  write 
for,  either  men  or  provisions  or  goods  wherewith  to  trade 
with  the  Indians." 

Evidently  it  was  understood  between  Mr.  White  and 
Governor  Conant  and  his  associates,  that  he  should  con- 
tinue to  superintend  the  colony,  and  that  the  additional 
planters  and  facilities  from  England  were  to  be  under  his 
authority ;  this  opinion  is  confirmed  by  the  general  spirit 
and  tenor  of  the  Company's  proceedings  with  the  old 
planters,  and  explains  their  manifest  anxiety  regarding 
them.  Conant  was  notified  of  his  summary  removal  from 
authority  by  his  successor  Endecott,  probably  with  honest 
characteristic  brevity  rather  than  with  any  unusual  degree 
of  suavity  and  delicacy. 

Though  the  rapid  development  of  the  scheme  for  a  re- 
ligious colony  in  New  England  must  have  far  exceeded 
Mr.  White's  anticipations,  and  the  sudden  accession  of 


'  The  superior  condition  of  the  persons  who  came  over  with  the  neiu  charter  cast 
a  shade  upon  Conant,  and  he  afterwards  lived  and  died  in  comparative  obscurity. 
He  retained  a  conviction  of  the  great  injustice  done  to  him,  even  in  his  old  age,  and 
he  could  not  refrain  from  reference  to  the  neglect  and  ingratitude  of  "  those  in  this 
8oe  famous  a  colony  "  who  had  "  obtained  much  without  hassard  of  life,  or  pi-efer- 
ring  the  public  good  before  their  own  interest,  which  "  said  he.  with  noble  pride, 
"  I  praise  God  I  have  done."  Felt's  Memoir  of  Conant  in  N.  E.  Hist.  Gen.  Reg. 
1848 ;  Hutchinson's  Mass.  1795,  i.  14. 

9 


66  CHARACTERS    OF     CONANT    AND    ENDECOTT. 

influence  and  wealth,  created  new  interests,  beyond  his 
control,  and  perhaps  not  bound  by  his  personal  agree- 
ment with  the  planters,  yet  this  could  not  soften  the  dis- 
appointment and  chagrin  of  Governor  Conant  and  his 
associates  at  the  manifest  injustice  done  to  them. 

Beside  strict  integrity,  there  was  little  common  to  the 
characters  of  Conant  and  Endecott.  Each  was  peculiarly 
fitted  for  the  duties  and  periods  assigned  to  him,  and  had 
the  order  been  reversed,  the  result  would  have  been  fatal. 

Conant  was  moderate  in  his  views,  tolerant,  mild  and 
conciliatory,  quiet  and  unobtrusive,  ingenuous  and  unam- 
bitious, preferring  the  public  good  to  his  private  interests ; 
with  the  passive  virtues  he  combined  great  moral  courage 
and  an  indomitable  will ;  avoiding  difficulty  at  Plymouth, 
and  without  losing  their  esteem,  he  quietly  withdrew  to 
Nantasket ;  he  was  a  minister  of  peace  at  the  time  of 
Hewes'  reprisal ;  he  inspired  the  planters  with  resolution 
to  remove  to  Naumkeag,  and  his  integrity  of  purpose  pre- 
vented the  utter  dissolution  of  the  colony  there  ;  he  was 
the  pacificator  in  the  difficulties  between  the  old  and  new 
planters  on  Endecott's  arrival,  and  then  retired  with  noble, 
Christian  resignation  to  the  privacy  and  industry  of  the 
humblest  planter.  Governor  Conant's  true  courage  and 
simplicity  of  heart  and  strength  of  principle  eminently 
qualified  him  for  the  conflicts  of  those  rude  days  of  peril, 
deprivation  and  trial.  He  was  at  the  head  of  the  forlorn 
hope ;  he  died  victorious,  but  neglected,  and  neither 
monument  nor  tradition  tells  of  the  place  where  he  rests.^ 

Endecott  was  the  opposite  of  Conant ;  arbitrary  and 
sometimes  violent,  he  ruled  with  a  determined  hand  and 
can'ied  the  sword  unsheathed  ;  quick  to  assert  and  ready 

t  "  longa 

Nocte,  carent  quia  vate  sacro." 

Hor.  Ad  LoUium. 


WRONGS    OF    THE    OLD    COLONISTS.  67 

to  maintain  his  rights ;  firm  and  unyielding,  he  con- 
fronted all  obstacles  with  a  vigorous  resistance  ;  a  man  of 
theological  asperity  and  bigoted,  he  was  guarded  against 
every  insidious  foe  ;  these  were  the  elements  necessary  to 
the  prosperity,  and  even  the  safety  of  the  colony,  from  the 
time  of  Conant's  retiracy,  crushing  insubordination  and 
excluding  every  hostile  element.  He  was  chief  magistrate 
of  the  colony  for  more  years  than  any  of  his  successors. 

As  before  said,  the  records  bear  evidence  that  the 
"  adventurers  "  were  not  unconscious  of  the  wrong  done 
to  the  old  colonists,  perhaps,  unavoidable  in  their  judg- 
ment, from  the  necessities  of  the  case.  The  company  for 
their  vindication,  "  as  well  to  all  the  world  as  to  the  old 
planters  themselves,"  offered  them  a  share  of  the  privi- 
leges under  the  royal  charter,  an  admission  to  their  soci- 
ety, and  the  enjoyment  of  not  only  those  lands  which  they 
had  cultivated,  but  such  further  proportion  of  land  as  the 
council  of  twelve,  in  which  the  old  planters  had  the  offer 
of  two  votes  out  of  twelve,  might  think  "  fit  for  them  or 
any  of  them." 

If  under  such  conditions  and  such  a  fulfilment  of  the 
agreement,  Conant  and  his  associates  are  "  desirous  to 
live  amongst  us  and  conform  themselves  to  good  order 
and  government,"  said  those  who  had  taken  summary 
possession  of  the  territory  and  of  the  improvements 
thereon,  we  will  permit  them  to  remain.  The  legal  title 
was  now  in  the  new  company,  who,  strong  in  wealth  and 
influence,  were  decidedly  aggressive  in  spirit,  and  the  only 
alternative  for  these  leaders  in  the  forlorn  hope,  was  dis- 
persion and  an  abandonment  of  the  now  ripening  fruits 
of  their  labors.  They  submitted  to  the  lesser  evil ;  but 
historic  impartiality,  upon  a  survey  of  the  facts,  will  yield 
a  verdict  of  exact  justice,  unvitiated  by  superior  interests 
and  prejudices. 


68  UNION    OF   THE    OLD    AND    NEW    COLONISTS. 

There  was  nothing  to  conciliate  the  old  colonists,  who 
viewed  their  new  associates  as  intruders ;  and  though  a 
political  union  was  effected,  the  distinction  of  old  and 
new  was  not  soon  forgotten.  On  the  thirtieth  day  of 
June,  1629,  at  a  general  court  convened  by  Governor  En- 
decott,  they  were  by  common  consent  "  all  combyned  to- 
gether into  one  body  politique  under  the  same  governor," 
—  a  consummation  of  the  labors  of  Conant  and  White, 
entitling  them  to  our  everlasting  gratitude,  and  a  loftier 
fame  than  New  England  has  yet  awarded  them. 


CHAPTEE    IX. 

RJiCAPITULATION THE  HISTORICAL    IDENTITY  OF  THE  COLONY SERIES 

OF  GOVERNORS    AND    CHARTERS CHARACTER    OF    THE    NEW  ENGLAND 

COLONISTS THE     FATHERS     QUOTED NEW     ENGLAND     SETTLED    BY 

FUGITIVES     FROM     OPPRESSION PRELACY     DRIVEN     FROM    PLYMOUTH 

AND  FROM  SALEM ITS  BANISHMENT  NECESSARY  TO  THEIR  SELF- 
PRESERVATION —  VIEWS     OF     THE     FOUNDERS     OF     NEW     ENGLAND 

TOLERATION  NOT  PROFESSED DANGER  FROM  POPERY THE  PURI- 
TANS ESTABLISHED  THE  ENGLISH  CONSTITUTION  AND  THE  AMERICAN 
REPUBLIC. 

Among  the  late  writers,  Douglass  has  assigned  to 
Conant's  colony  most  accurately  and  distinctly  its  true 
relative  position  in  history.  He  says,  "  Some  adventur- 
ers proposed  to  make  a  settlement  on  the  north  side  of 
Massachusetts  Bay,  Anno  1624  ;  they  began  a  small  set- 
tlement at  Cape  Anne,  the  northern  promontory  of  this 
bay,  and  are  now  (1749)  become  the  most  considerable 
British  American  settlement,  and  by  way  of  eminence  is 
commonly  called  New  England."  ' 

Thus  it  appears  that  a  society  from  the  mother  country 
was  established  at  Cape  Anne,  in  1624,  under  a  charter 
derived  mediately  from  the  king,  through  the  council 
for  New  England,  to  ShefFeild  the  grantor,  whose  title 
and  privileges  were  soon  after  ratified  directly  by  the  king 
in  council ;    that   this    charter,  so   emanating   from   the 

»  Douglass'  "Summary,"   i.  373,  407. 


70  THE    HISTORICAL     IDENTITY    OF   THE    COLONY. 

throne,  authorized  the  organization  of  a  body  politic, 
having  laws,  magistrates,  and  ministers  ;  that  such  officers 
were  appointed,  and  entered  upon  their  duties  at  Cape 
Anne,  Eoger  Conant  being  Governor ;  ^  that  in  the  fall 
of  the  year  1626,  the  colony  removed  to  the  site  of  the 
present  city  of  Salem;  that  in  the  year  1628,  John  En- 
decott,  under  authority  of  a  new  organization  in  England, 
whose  name  is  not  preserved,  but  which  had  obtained 
from  the  council  of  New  England  a  charter  superseding 
that  of  Cape  Anne,  from  Lord  Sheffeild,  arrived  at  Salem, 
and  abruptly  assumed  the  government  of  the  whole.  The 
mutations  of  the  companies  in  England  do  not  affect  the 
identity  of  the  colony,  nor  the  chronological  order  of  the 
incidents  in  its  civil  history,  which  may  be  considered  in- 
dependently of  the  authority  under  which  they  tran- 
spired, and  merely  with  reference  to  its  internal  ^  history. 
In  this  view  the  reader  will  readily  trace  the  series  of 
Governors,  or  Rulers  of  the  people,  from  Roger  Conant 
to  Endecott  and  Winthrop,  down  to  the  present  day  ;  or 
referring  to  the  charters,  that  Roger  Conant  was  not  only 
first  in  order  of  time,  but  the  only  Governor  under  the 

^  Very  different  were  the  colonists  of  New  England  from  those  described  in 
Dr.  Donne's  sermon  before  the  Virginia  Company,  in  1622,  already  quoted.  '•  It 
shall  redeeme  many  a  wretch  from  the  javves  of  death,  from  the  hands  of  the  ex- 
ecutioner." "  It  shall  sweepe  your  streetes,  and  wash  your  doores  from  idle 
persons  and  the  children  of  idle  persons,  and  employ  them  ;  and  truly  if  the 
whole  countrye  were  but  such  a  Brideivell.,  to  force  idle  persons  to  worke,  it  had  a 
good  use."  ♦«  It  is  alreadie  a  spleene,  lo  drayne  the  ill  humors  of  the  body  ;  " 
and  August  18,  1627,  the  Rev.  Joseph  Meade  wrote  to  Sir  Martin  Stuteville, 
"  there  are  many  ships  now  going  to  Virginia,  and  with  them  some  fourteen  or 
fifteen  hundred  children,  which  they  have  gathered  up  in  divers  places."  "  The 
Court  and  Times  of  Charles  the  First.''  London,  1S48,  i.  202.  The  royal  charter 
of  J612  speaks  of  "divers  and  sundry  persons  "  that  "have  been  sent  thither 
as  misdoers  and  offenders."     Stilh's  Virginia,  16G-  197. 

*  On  this  sound  principle  it  is  that  Mr.  Savage  excluded  Matthew  Cradock 
from  the  list  of  Governors,  he  being  "in  fact  only  the  head  of  a  commercial  comr 
pany  in  England,  not  ruhr  of  the  peoph,^'  (Winthrop,  lb53,  i.  2;)  thereby  re- 
ducing thp  iptjuiry  to  one  of  simple  fact,  as  stated  ip  the  text. 


ENDECOTT  DIRECTED  TO  STRENGTHEN  THE  OLD  COLONY.    71 

first,  or  Cape  Anne  charter ;  that  under  the  second,  or 
Massachusetts  charter,  John  Endecott  was  first  appointed, 
and  then  succeeded  by  John  Winthrop,  the  third  in  order 
of  time  ;  and  that  Sir  Wm.  Phips  was  the  first  Governor 
under  the  third,  or  Province  charter,  of  1692. 

The  design  of  the  second  company,  formed  in  the  year 
1629  is  stated  by  the  fathers  themselves.  Governor 
Thomas  Dudley  in  his  letter  to  "  the  Lady  Bridget, 
Countess  of  Lincoln,"  ^  one  of  the  most  precious  docu- 
ments in  New  England  history,^  says:  "We  sent  Mr. 
John  Endecott  and  some  with  him  to  beginne  a  planta- 
tion [in  Massachusetts!  and  to  strengthen  such  as  hee 
should  find  there  [at  Naumkeag,]  which  we  [were  ?]  ^  sent 
hither  from  Dorchester,  and  some  places  adjoyning," 
and  this  appears  also  in  the  letter  of  instructions  to 
Endecott,^  dated  the  seventeenth  of  April,  1629,  wherein 
he  is  directed  to  "  send  forty  or  fifty  persons  to  Massa- 
chusetts Bay,  to  inhabit  there,  and  not  to  protract  but  to 
do  it  with  all  speed."  ^  This  explains,  and  is  corroborated 
by,  the  concise  statement  in  the  "  Planters'  Plea,"  that  it 
was  "  to  erect  a  new  colony  upon  the  old  foundation." 
Hubbard  says  it  was  "  to  carry  on  the  plantation  of  the 


'  Daughter  of  Sir  William  Fenys,  Viscount  Say  and  Scale,  by  his  wife  Elizabeth, 
daughter  of  John  Temple  of  Stow :  she  married  Theophilus,  Baron  Clinton,  ith 
Earl  of  Lincoln. 

2  Edited  by  John  Farmer,  Esq.,  in  New  Ilamp.  Hist.  Coll.  iv.  229  ;  also  in  Force's 
Hist.  Tracts. 

3  I  think  that  tve  is  an  error  for  were,  because  Dudley's  letter  shows  that  he  was 
not  connected  with  the  enterprise  till  1627,  three  years  or  more  after  the  Dorchester 
people  were  sent  out ;  next  he  lived  in  Lincolnshire  remote  from  Dorchester  ;  and 
lastly  it  avoids  the  evident  anachronism,  as  it  now  stands.  A  parallel  to  this 
occurs  in  the  Boston  edition  of  Hugh  Peter's  "Last  Legacy,"  1717;  by  a  misprint 
of  he  for  u-c.  Bishop  Lake  is  represented  to  have  had  "the  late  king's  gracious 
Patent,  License  and  Encouragement  "  to  plant  in  New  England. 

■*  Charles  M.  Endecott,  Esq.,  of  Salem,  has  printed  a  valuable  memoir  of  his 
noble  ancestor,  the  Governor. 
*  This  was  to  anticipate  Oldham's  occupation  under  the  Gorges  charter. 


72      PRELACY  EXCLUDED  FROM  NEW  ENGLAND. 

Dorchester  agents  at  Naumkeag  or  Salem,  and  make  way 
for  the  settling  of  another  colony  in  the  Massachusetts." 
These  authorities  show  two  distinct  objects :  to  continue 
and  strengthen  the  first  colony  at  Salem,  and  to  begin 
another  ^  at  the  mouth  of  Charles  River,  now  Charlestown 
and  Boston. 

The  members  of  the  Massachusetts  Company  suffered 
from  the  abuses  or  rather  severities  of  the  Episcopal 
authorities ;  but  they  cherished  the  hope  of  a  reforma- 
tion 2  in  the  church,  and  shrank  from  the  absolute 
separation  of  the  Independents  or  Pilgrims  —  a  position 
held  by  thousands  of  the  faithful  and  conscientious  sons 
of  the  church,  until  the  act  of  uniformity,  in  1662, 
severed  the  bonds ;  and  from  that  date  the  Dissenters 
rapidly  increased  in  numbers  and  influence. 

The  attempt  to  introduce  Prelacy  into  the  Plymouth 
Colony  almost  immediately  resulted  in  the  practical 
question,  whether  the  Pilgrims  should  banish  or  be 
banished  by  the  intruders.  This  was  the  alternative. 
They  sought,  won,  and  defended  an  asylum  for  the 
enjoyment  of  their  own  faith.  It  has  been  well  said  that 
they  sought  "  not  religious  freedom,  but  freedom  to  enjoy 
their  own  opinions."  ^  This  act  of  self-preservation  led, 
as  we  have  seen,  to  the  establishment  of  the  colony  at 
Cape  Anne,  afterwards  removed  to  Salem.  There  the 
same  causes  produced  a  like  result,  in  the  case  of  the 
banished  Browns ;  and  thus  Prelacy  was  excluded  from 


"  Five  (lays  after  his  arrival  at  Salem,  June  17,  1630,  Gov.  Winthrop  entered  in 
his  journal,  "  we  went  to  Massachusetts  to  find  out  a  place  for  our  setting  downe." 
Savage's  ed.  1853,  i.  32. 

"  "  They  were  ratheif  desirous  of  reforming  the   Church  of  England  than  of 

separating  from  it>" *  "  a  measure  which  would  have  broken  the  strength 

of  the  Dissenters,  as  a  body,  to  the  eminent  hazard  of  civil  liberty."  Sir  James 
Mackintosh. 

3  Arnold's  Discourse  before  the  Rhode  Island  Hist.  See,  Jan.  7,  1853. 


THE    BASTARD    PAPACY    IN    ENGLAND.  73 

the  very  colony  which  it  had  planted  and  nourished  —  a 
joy  to  the  Pilgrims. 

The  autobiography  of  Sir  Simon  D'Ewes,  as  cotcm- 
porary  with  these  movements,  exhibits  the  views  of  the 
Fathers  of  New  England,  respecting  the  tendency  of 
public  affairs  in  Old  England.     He  says : 

"  For  men  to  call  themselves  Protestants,  as  Bishop 
Laud,^  Bishop  Wren,  and  their  wicked  adherents,  to 
swallow  up  the  preferments  of  our  church,  to  inveigh 
against  Popery  in  word  only,  and  in  the  main  to  project 
and  plot  the  ruin  of  the  truth  and  gospel,  to  maintain 
and  publish  the  most  gross  and  feculent  errors  of  the 
Romish  synagogue,  to  cause  God's  day  to  be  profaned, 
his  public  service  to  be  poisoned  by  idolatry  and  super- 
stition, his  faithful  and  painful  ministers  to  be  censured, 
suspended,  deprived,  and  exiled,  they  do  no  less  impu- 
dently and  furiously  weaken  and  undermine  the  Gospel 
of  truth,  than  if  they  were  hired  by  the  Pope  himself,  at 
great  rates. 


5»   2 


1  Yet  Laud's  memory  is  precious,  for  the  evil  which  he  did  has  been  prolific  of 
good.  By  his  persecutions  he  "may  be  called  the  Father  of  New  England." 
Douglass'  Summary,  i.  367  ;  Neal's  N.  E.  191,  192.  He  is  credited  with  the  good 
service  of  reclaiming  from  the  Romish  Church,  William  Chillingworth,  author  of 
the  great  argument  "The  Religion  of  Protestants."  His  victims  used  to  say 
"  Great  laud  to  the  Lord  —  little  Laud  to  the  Devil !  " 

"  Did  not  the  deeds  of  England's  primate 
First  drive  your  fathers  to  this  climate, 
Whom  jails  and  fines  and  every  ill 
Forced  to  their  good  against  their  will  ? 
Ye  owe  to  their  obliging  temper 
The  peopling  your  new  fangled  empire. 
While  every  British  act  and  canon 
Stood  forth  your  causa  sine  qua  iion.'* 

M'Fingal,  Canto  ii. 

Milton's  "Reformation  in  England"  best  exhibits  the  facts  and  principles 
leading  to  the  settlement  of  New  England. 

'  "  The  sour  crudities  of  yesterday's  Popery,  those  constitutions  of  Edward  VL" 
being  established  in  Elizabeth's  reign:  "from  that  time  followed  nothing  but  im- 
10 


74  TOLERATION    WOULD    HAVE    BEEN    FATAL. 

The  Puritan  founders  of  New  England  did  not  ^  pro- 
fess toleration ;  it  would  have  been  suicidal.  Neither 
justice  nor  equity  required  that  they  should  receive  or 
re'tain  any  who  were  inimical  to  their  adopted  insti- 
tutions; they  well  understood  the  truth,  a  few  years 
afterward  spoken  by  John  Pym,^  in  his  great  speech  in 

prisonments,  troubles,  disgraces  on  all  those  that  found  fault  with  the  decrees  of 
the  convention,  and  straight  were  branded  with  the  name  of  Puritans.^'  Milton's 
Prose  Works,  1641,  Bohn's  ed.  ii.  410,  374,  26.  At  the  Hampton  Court  Confer- 
ence, Thursday,  12  Jan.  1603,  James  said  of  the  Puritans,  "  I  shall  make  them 
conform  themselves,  or  I  will  harry  them  out  of  this  land,  or  do  worse,"  of  which 
Bancroft,  the  High  Church  Bishop  of  London,  declared  that  he  "was  fully  per- 
suaded that  his  majesty  spoke  by  the  instinct  of  the  spirit  of  God!  "  This  "  finished 
specimen  of  all  that  a  king  ought  not  to  be"  compelled  a  union  of  the  State  and 
Church  Puritans,  which  party  thenceforth  included  all  who  opposed  the  king,  and 
even  Abbott,  the  Archbishop  of  Canterbury,  was  reckoned  among  them,  because  he 
did  not  approve  the  Court  maxims  of  the  king's  unlimited  power."  Rapin's  Hist, 
of  Eng.  ii.  fol.  17G,  179,  214,  215,  222. 

1  Governor  Thomas  Dudley's  lines  may  be  quoted  : 

"  Let  men  of  God  in  courts  and  churches  watch 
O'er  such  as  do  a  Toleration  hatch  ; 
Lest  that  ill  egg  bring  forth  a  cockatrice, 
To  poison  all  with  heresy  and  vice. 
If  men  be  left,  and  otherwise  combine. 
My  epitaph  's  I  died  no  libertine!" 

Rev.  John  Cotton  and  Rev.  John  Norton  were  equally  intolerant;  but  these  men 
founded  institutions  whose  strength  is  in  freedom  of  opinion.  Dr.  Increase  Mather, 
in  his  election  sermon.  May  23,  1677,  "  concerning  the  Danger  of  Apostacy,"  says, 
"that  which  concerns  the  magistrate's  power  in  matters  of  religion,"  "is  now 
become  a  matter  of  scruple  and  distaste  to  some  amongst  us."  The  thii'd  or  Pro- 
vincial charter  of  1602,  which  was  procured  by  Mather,  tolerated  "  all  Christians, 
except  Papists; "  and  here  Mather  seems  to  have  Milton's  authority,  "Whether 
Popery  be  tolerable  or  no?  Popery  is  a  double  thing  to  deal  with,  and  claims  a 
two-fold  power,  ecclesiastical  and  political  —  both  usurped,  and  the  one  supporting 
the  other."  In  Holland,  as  early  as  1573,  "  all  restraint  in  matter  of  religion  was 
as  detestable  as  the  Inquisition  itself;  "  but  even  there  they  were  compelled  to  acts 
of  severity  towards  Popery,  in  consequence  of  her  political  machinations.  Broad- 
head's  History  of  New  York,  101,  103,  458,  559,  787. 

"  I  am  not  of  opinion,"  said  Milton,  in  1641,  "  to  think  the  church  a  vine  in  tliis 
respect,  because,  as  they  take  it,  she  cannot  subsist  without  clasping  about  the  elm 
of  worldly  strength  and  felicity,  as  if  the  heavenly  city  could  not  support  itself 
without  the  props  and  buttresses  of  secular  authority." 

2  Foster's  Statesmen  of  the  Commonwealth,  New  York  ed.  166. 


SELF-PRESERVATION  REPELLED  OLD  WORLD  POLITIES.        iO 

Parliament,  1640,  "T/^e  prmciples  of  Poperie,''  said  he, 
"  are  such  as  are  incompatible  with  any  other  religion. 
There  may  be  a  suspension  of  violence  for  some  time,  by 
certain  respects;  but  the  ultimate  end  even  of  that 
moderation  is,  that  they  may  with  more  advantage  ex- 
tirpate that  which  is  opposite  to  them.  Lawes  will  not 
restrain  them  —  oathes  will  not." 

The  heavy  darkness  of  the  Romish  sway,  which  had 
been  penetrated  by  the  glimmerings  of  the  dawning 
Reformation,  seemed  to  be  again  fast  gathering  over 
England.  The  Christian  and  Patriot  now  rose  to  the 
death  struggle  for  Religion  and  Liberty.  While  the 
conflict  raged  in  England,  not  less  arduous  was  the 
struggle  for  the  possession  of  the  New  World  in  behalf 
of  the  Rights  of  Man.  Our  fathers,  driven  from  home 
by  oppression  and  cruelty,  the  legitimate  offspring  of  the 
Old  W^orld  polities,  with  the  instinct  of  self-preservation, 
repelled  their  intrusion  ^  upon  these  western  shores,  amid 
whose  wilds  and  solitudes  they  seemed  instantly  to  feel 
the  inspiration  of  the  liberty  which  they  sought.  "  The 
English  Puritans,  the  chief  of  men,  whom  it  is  the  paltry 
fashion  of  this  day  to  decry,  divided  their  vast  inheritance 


'Among  the  "General  Considerations  for  the  Plantation  in  New  England" 
stands  this:  "First,  It  Avill  be  a  service  to  the  church  of  great  consequence,  to 
carry  the  gospell  into  those  parts  of  the  world,  and  to  raise  a  bulwarke  againste  the 
Kingdom  of  Antichrist,  which  the  Jesuits  labor  to  rear  up  in  all  places  of  the 
world."     Hutchinson's  Collection,  27. 

Dr.  Donne,  Dean  of  St.  Paul's,  in  a  sermon  to  the  "  Honorable  Company  of  the 
Virginian  Plantation,"  Nov.  13,  1G22,  said,  "  The  Papists  are  sorrie  wee  have  this 
countrey,  and  surely  twenty  lectures  in  matter  of  controversie  doe  not  so  much  vese 
them,  as  one  ship  that  goes  and  strengthens  that  plantation;  ueyther  can  I  recom- 
mend it  to  you  by  any  better  rhetorique  than  their  malice."' 

In  1G48,  the  Rev.  John  Cotton,  of  liuston,  said :  "  Some  of  the  Jesuits  at  Lisburn, 
and  others  in  the  Western  Islands,  have  professed  to  some  of  our  merchants  and 
mariners,  they  look  at  our  plantations,  (and  at  some  of  us  by  name.)  as  dangerous 
supplanters  of  the  Catholic  cause."  "Way  of  Congregational  Churches  Cleared." 
London,  1648,  p.  21,22. 


76  RELIGIOUS    AND    CIVIL    LIBERTY    INSEPARABLE. 

between  them  in  the  reign  of  Charles  I.  One  body 
remained  at  home,  and  established  the  English  Consti- 
tution :  one  crossed  the  Atlantic,  and  founded  the  Ameri- 
can Republic  —  the  two  greatest  achievements  of  modern 
times."  1 

Distant  by  three  thousand  miles  from  Cathedral 
shades,  and  the  terrors  of  Spiritual  and  Star  Chamber 
powers,  safe  in  the  retirement  of  the  forests  of  the  New 
World,  wary  by  experience,  elevated  and  enlightened  by 
the  teachings  of  Christ,  amid  a  combination  of  favorable 
circumstances  never  previously  known  in  the  experience 
of  man,  and  which  can  never  exist  again,  Freedom  spon- 
taneously developed  her  institutions  in  their  simplest  and 
truest  forms,  and  published  to  all  the  world  the  insepara- 
ble bonds  of  religious  and  civil  liberty.  Under  these 
circumstances,  and  amid  these  influences,  has  been 
originated  and  developed  the  true  polity  for  an  enlight- 
ened and  free  people,  containing  within  itself  the  recu- 
perative principle  of  life,  and  the  germ  of  kindred 
institutions  among  all  nations. 

'  Edlubursfli  Review. 


APPENDIX. 


I. 

Edmund,  Lord  Sheffeild — a  prominent  and  influential  statesman 
or  courtier  of  the  times  of  Elizabeth,  James,  and  Charles  the  First, 
seems  to  have  retained  the  royal  favor  more  successfully  than  did 
some  of  his  cotemporaries.  For  this  reason,  perhaps,  he  occupies  a 
less  conspicuous  position  in  history,  than  belongs  to  others  whose  mis- 
fortunes reflect  lustre  on  their  worth,  and  infamy  on  their  sovereigns. 
He  was  born  of  noble  lineage,  about  1566,  and  was  early  introduced 
at  Court ;  for  in  1582,  he  was  one  of  those  who,  by  command  of 
Elizabeth,  attended  her  suitor,  the  Duke  of  Anjou,  to  Antwerp.  For 
his  good  service  in  the  contest  with  the  Armada,  he  was,  three  days 
after,  on  the  26th  of  July,  1583,  knighted  by  his  uncle.  High  Admiral 
Howard.  After  this  he  was  for  some  years  Governor  of  Briel,  a  forti- 
fied seaport  in  the  Netherlands,  famous  in  her  history,  which  England 
held  as  security  for  loans  in  the  war  with  Spain.  Upon  his  return  to 
England  he  mingled  in  the  affairs  of  state,  and  his  name  is  frequently 
associated  with  the  Earl  of  Northampton.  In  1612,  they  were  both 
seeking  a  place  in  the  royal  council,  and  there  was  a  "  flocking  of 
Parliament  men  "  '■  in  meetings  and  consultations  with  the  Earl  of 
Southampton  and  Lord  Sheffeild,  at  Lord  Rochester's  chambers." 
About   1614,  he  obtained  the  presidency  of  the  council  of  the  north, 


78  APPENDIX. 

an  institution  created  by  Henry  VIII.  at  York,  in  1537,  after  the 
troubles  which  broke  out  in  the  northern  counties,  in  consequence  of 
the  suppression  of  the  lesser  monasteries,  to  administer  justice  and 
maintain  order  in  these  counties,  independently  of  the  courts  at  West- 
minster. The  jurisdiction  of  the  court,  at  first  very  limited,  became 
more  extended  and  arbitrary  under  James  I.  and  Charles  I.  The 
office  he  held  till  January,  1618-19,  when  we  find  "my  Lord 
Scroop's  patent  is  now  drawing  for  the  Presidentship  of  York.  He  is 
to  make  up  the  sum  already  tendered  to  my  Lord  Sheffeild,  .£4500  ; 
and  .£1500  is  to  be  given  elsewhere,  by  way  of  gratuity.  My  Lord 
Sheffeild,  at  the  resigning  up  of  his  interest,  had  this  further  testimony 
of  the  King's  favor,  that  at  his  request,  his  Majesty  was  content  to 
knight  every  one  of  the  Council  at  York,  before  not  knighted,  which 
were  divers  ;  and  thence  accrues  a  further  profit  to  his  Lordship." 
During  the  next  month  he  was  appointed  Vice  Admiral  of  the  fleet 
then  fitting  out,  and  on  Tuesday,  the  21st  of  this  month,  my  Lord 
Sheffeild  "  married  a  fine  young  gentlewoman  of  some  sixteen  years 
of  age.  Sir  William  Irwin's  daughter,  and  is  (for  the  country's  sake, 
I  suppose)  highly  applauded  by  the  King  for  his  choice.  And  surely 
if  it  be  true  "  Blessed  is  the  wooing  that  is  not  long  adoing,"  we  must 
give  him  for  a  happy  man,  since  less  than  three  days  concluded 
wooing,  wedding,  and  bedding." 

He  became  connected  with  American  affairs  in  1609,  being  one  of 
the  patentees  named  in  the  charter  of  the  Virginia  company  in  that 
year,  and  was,  in  1620,  one  of  a  committee,  with  the  Earl  of  South- 
ampton, Sir  Nicholas  Tufton,  and  others,  to  propitiate  the  King's  favor, 
and  in  the  same  year  he  appeared  in  the  party  against  the  King's 
favorite,  Sir  Thomas  Smith  ;  but  two  years  later,  in  1622,  he  joined 
the  King's  party,  and  so  continued  till  after  1625,  when  he  was  created 
by  Charles  I.  Earl  of  Mulgrave.  In  April,  1628,  when  the  Earl  of 
Arundel,  in  parliament,  resolutely  declared  his  purpose  to  maintain 
popular  liberty  against  the  King's  prerogative,  Mulgrave  sustained  him. 
He  was  one  of  the  twelve  eminent  peers,  among  whom  were  Warwick, 
Say  and  Seal,  and  Brook,  all  inclined  to  the  popular  party,  who  so- 
licited from  Charles  I.  the  convocation  of  the  constitutional  parlianient 


A  r  r  E  N  D  I X .  79 

of  1640,  which  assumed  the  sovereign  power.  From  his  disafTcction 
to  the  Virginia  company,  it  is  reasonable  to  suppose  that  he  had  con- 
siderable influence  in  procuring  the  patent  to  the  Plymouth  company, 
of  which  he  was  an  original  member,  and  under  which  he  issued  the 
patent  of  Cape  Anne,  thus  rendering  his  name  of  permanent  interest  in 
New  England.  He  died  in  1646.  A  fac-simile  of  his  signature,  and 
his  picture,  are  in  Thane's  Autography,  vol.  i.  p.  17.^ 

»  Rapin's  Englaml,  ii.  115,  136;  Collier's  Dictionary;  Hazard,  i.  118;  Stith's 
Virginia,  180,  187,  220;  Appendix,  16  ;  Life  and  Times  of  James  I.,  i.  83,  180, 
17G,  333,  471  ;  ii.  120,  136,  137,  145,  14R  ;  Davies'  Hist,  of  Holland,  ii.  175; 
Guizot's  Hist,  of  the  English  Rev.  of  1640,  Bogue's  cd.  46,  n.  1,  84  ;  Purchas' 
Pilgrims,  vi.  1900-1005. 


II. 


"  16  :  12'""-  :    1680. 

Richard  Brackenbury,  of  Bcuerly,  in  the  County  of  Essex,  in  New 
England,  aged  eighty  yeares,  testifieth  that  he  the  said  Richard  came 
to  New  England  with  John  Endecott,  Esqr.  late  Gouernor  in  New 
England,  deceased,  and  that  we  came  ashore  at  the  place  now  called 
Salem,  the  6th  of  September,  in  the  yeare  of  our  Lord,  1628  :  fifty- 
two  yeares  agoe  :  at  Salem  we  found  liueing,  old  Goodman  Norman, 
&  his  sonn  :  William  Allen  &  Walter  Knight,  and  others,  those  owned 
that  they  came  ouer  vpon  the  acco'  of  a  company  in  England,  calcd 
by  vs  by  the  name  of  Dorchester  Company  or  Dorchester  marchants, 
they  had  sundry  houses  built  at  Salem,  as  Alsoe  John  Woodberye,  Af' 
Conant,  Pecter  Palfcry,  John  Balch  &  others,  &  they  declared  that 
they  had  an  house  built  at  Cape  Ann  for  the  dorchester  company,  &  I 
haueing  waited  vpon  M'-  Endecott,  when  he  atended  the  company  of 


80  APPENDIX. 

the  Massathusetts  pattentees,  when  they  kept  theire  court  in  Cornewell 
Street  in  London  I  vnderstood  that  this  company  of  London  haueing 
bought  out  the  right  of  the  Dorchester  marchants  in  New  Eng- 
land, and  that  M"^'  Endecott  hat  power  to  take  possession  of  theire  right 
in  New  England,  which  M'-  Endecot  did,  &  in  perticuler  of  an  house 
built  at  Cape  Ann,  which  Walter  Knight  tSc  the  rest,  said  they  built  for 
Dorchester  men  :  &  soe  I  was  sent  with  them  to  Cape  Ann  to  pull 
downe  the  said  house  for  M"^-  Endecott's  vse,  the  which  wee  did,  & 
the  same  yeare  wee  came  ouer  according  to  my  best  remembrance,  it 
was  that  wee  tooke  a  further  possession,  on  the  north  side  of  Salem 
ferrye,  comonly  caled  Cape  an  side,  by  cutting  thach  for  our  houses, ^ 
and  soone  after  laid  out  lotts  for  tillage  land  on  the  s""  Cape  an  side,  & 
quickly  after  sundry  houses  were  built  on  the  said  Cape  an  side,  and  I 
my  selfe  haue  lined  there,  now  for  about  40  yeares  &  I  with  sundry 
others  haue  beene  subdueing  the  wildernes  &  improuing  the  feilds  & 
comons  there,  as  a  part  of  Salem,  while  wee  belonged  to  it  &  since  as 
inhabitants  of  Beuerly  for  these  fifty  yeares,  &  neuer  y'  I  heard  of 
disturbed  in  our  possession,  either  by  the  Indians  or  others  saue  in  our 
late  vnhappy  warr,  with  the  heathen,  neither  haue  I  heard  by  myselfe 
or  any  other  inhabitants  with  vs,  for  the  space  of  these  fifty  yeares, 
that  M'-  Mason  or  any  by  from  or  vnder  him  did  take  any  possession  or 
lay  any  claime  to  any  lands  heare  saue  now  in  his  last  claime  within 
this  yeare  or  two, : 

Richard  Brackenbury  made  oath  to  the  truth  of  the  above  writ- 
ten the  20th  daye  of  January,  L^Al  before  me,  Bartholomew 
Gedney,  Assistant  In  the  Collony  of  Massathusetts." 

1  '«  The  roofe  ouer  the  hall,  I  couered  with  Deale  boords,  and  the  rest  with  such 
thatch  as  I  found  growing  here  about  the  Harbour,  as  sedge,  flagges,  and  rushes,  a 
farre  better  couering  than  boords,  both  for  warmth  and  titeness."  —  Letter  July  28, 
1622,  from  Edward  Wynne,  Gov.  of  Lord  Baltimore's  Plantation  at  "  Ferryland,'' 
Newfoundland. 


APPENDIX. 


III. 


81 


"16:  12'"''-=  1G80. 
William  Dixy,  of  Beuerly  in  New  England,  aged  about  73  yeares, 
Testifieth  that  I  came  to  New  England  &  ariued  in  June  1629,  at 
cape  an,  where  wee  found  the  signes  of  buildings  &  plantation  work, 
6s  saw  noe  English  people  soe  we  sailed  to  the  place  now  caled  Salem, 
where  we  found  Af'  John  Endecott,  Governo'  &-  sundry  inhabitants 
besides  :  some  of  whom  s'^  they  had  beene  seruants  to  Dorchester  com- 
pany :  &  had  built  at  cape  an  sundry  yeares  before  wee  came  ouer, 
when  we  came  to  dwell  heare  the  Indians  bid  vs  welcome  &  shewed 
themselues  very  glad  that  we  came  to  dwell  among  them,  and  I  vnder- 
stood  they  had  kindly  entertained  the  English  y'  came  hether  before 
wee  came,  &  the  English  &  the  Indians  had  a  feild  in  comon  fenced 
in  together,  &  the  Indians  fled  to  shelter  themselues,  vnder  the  English 
oft  times,  Saying  they  were  afraid  of  theire  enemy  Indians  in  the 
Gentry  :  In  perticuler  I  remember  somtime  after,  wee  ariued,  the 
Agawam  Indians,  complained  to  M'-  Endecott  that  they  weare  afraid  of 
other  Indians,  caled  as  I  take  it,  tarrateens,  Hugh  Browne  was  sent 
with  others  in  a  boate  to  agawam  for  the  Indians  releife,  &  at  other 
times  wee  gaue  our  neighbour  Indians,  protection  from  theire  enemy 
Indians. 

Taken  vpon  oath  this  16""  February,  1680  :  before  me  William 
Browne  &;  Bartholomew  Gedney,  Assistants." 


IV. 

u  16  :  12™°-  =     1680. 

Humphry  Woodberye,  of  Beuerly  in  New  England,  aged  about  72 
yeares.     Testifieth,  that  when  I  liucd  in  Sumersetshire  in  England,  I 
remember  that  my  father,  John  Woodberye,  (since  deceased)  did  about 
11 


82 


APPENDIX. 


56  yeares  agoe  remooue  for  new  England,  &  I  then  traueled  with  him 
as  farr  as  Dorchester,  and  I  vnderstood  that  my  said  father  came  to 
New  England  by  order  of  a  company  caled,  Dorchester  Company, 
(among  whom  M"'-  White,  of  Dorchester  in  England,  was  an  active  in- 
strument,) &  that  my  father  &  the  company  with  him  brought  cattle  & 
other  things,  to  Cape  Ann,  for  plantation  work,  &  built  an  house  & 
kept  theire  cattell,  &  sett  up  fishing,  &  afterwards  some  of  them 
remoued,  to  a  neck  of  land,  since  called  Salem  :  After  about  3  yeares 
absence,  my  said  father  returned  to  England,  &  made  vs  acquainted 
with  what  settlement  they  had  made  in  New  England,  &  that  he  was 
sent  back  by  some  that  Intended  to  setle  a  plantation  about  3  leagues 
west  of  Cape  Ann,  to  further  this  designe,  after  about  halfe  a  year's 
stay  in  Ingland,  my  father  returned  to  new  England  &  brought  me 
with  him,  wee  ariued  at  the  place  now  caled  Salem,  in  or  about  the 
month  of  June  1628  :  where  wee  found  seuerall  persons  that  said  they 
were  seruants  to  the  Dorchester  company,  &  had  built  another  house 
for  them  at  Salem  besides  that  at  cape  Ann  The  latter  end  of  that 
sumer,  1628 :  Joha  Endecott,  Esq''  came  ouer  gouerno''  declaring  his 
power,  from  a  company  of  pattentees  in  or  about  London  :  and  that 
they  had  bought  the  houses  boates  and  seruants,  which  belonged  to  the 
Dorchester  Company  &  that  he  s*^  Endecott  had  power  to  receiue  them, 
which  accordingly  he  did  take  possession  of: 

When  wee  setled  the  Indians  neuer  then  molested  vs  in  our  im- 
prouemen"  or  sitting  downe,  either  on  Salem  or  Beuerly  sides  of  the 
ferry,  but  shewed  themselues  very  glad  of  our  company,  &  came  & 
planted  by  vs,  &;  often  times  came  to  vs  for  shelter,  saying  they  were 
afraid  of  their  enemy  Indians  vp  in  the  contry  :  &  we  did  shelter  them 
w"  they  fled  to  vs,  &  we  had  theire  free  leaue  to  build  &  plant  where 
wee  haue  taken  vp  lands,  the  same  yeare  or  the  next  after,  wee  came 
to  Salem  wee  cutt  hay  for  the  cattell  wee  brought  ouer,  on  that  side  of 
the  ferry  now  caled  Beuerly  :  &  haue  kept  our  possession  there  euer 
since,  by  cutting  hay  or  thatch,  or  timber  &  boards  &  by  laying  out 
lotts  for  tillage,  &  then  by  peoples  planting :  &  some  time  after,  build- 
inof  and  dwelling  hecre,  where  I  with  others  haue  liucd  about  40 
yeares  :    In  all  this  time  of  my  being  in  New  England  I  neuer  heard 


APPENDIX.  88 

that  M'"  Mason,  took  possession  hcare,  disbursted  estate  vpon  or  layd 
any  claime,  to  this  place  of  ours,  saue  the  discourses  of  a  claime 
within  this  yeare  or  two  : 

The  testimoney  within  written  is  taken  vpon  oath  this  16  :  Feb- 
ruary, 1680  :  before  William  Browne  &  Bartholomew  Gedney, 
Assistants." 


V. 

"Gloucester,  June  22d,  1854. 
J.  WiNGATE  Thornton,  Esq. 

Dear  Sir,  ****** 

On  the  north-west  side  of  the  outer  harbor  of  Gloucester  is  a  tract  of 
land,  containing  about  one  hundred  acres,  more  or  less,  which,  in  our 
early  town-records,  is  called  '  ffisherman's  field.'  It  is  mentioned 
by  that  name  in  a  grant  to  Rev.  Richard  Blynman,  one  of  the  company 
who  made  the  permanent  settlement  here  in  1642.  Commencing  at 
the  westerly  end  of  the  beach,  on  the  north  side  of  the  harbor,  it 
extends  in  a  southerly  direction,  and  on  its  westerly  side  is  skirted  by 
the  main  road  to  Manchester,  which  separates  it  from  a  range  of  hills. 
On  the  sea-ward  side  it  has  two  coves,  one  of  which  is  very  small, 
formed  by  the  projection  of  a  rocky  bluff  into  the  harbor.  This  bluff 
is  called  Stage  Head,  and  tradition  affirms  that  this  is  the  place  where 
the  operations  of  the  first  fishing  company  at  Cape  Ann  were  carried 
on.  A  breastwork  was  raised  on  this  spot  in  the  revolutionary  war, 
and  Stage  Fort  has  been  its  general  appellation  for  many  years.  I 
have  met  with  nothing  to  show  that  this  place  might  have  derived  its 
name  from  its  improvement  for  a  fishing  stage  at  any  later  period  in 
the  history  of  the  town,  than  that  now  under  consideration.  One  of  the 
objects  of  the  fishing  company  just  mentioned,  was  to  combine  fishing 
and  agricultural  employments;  and  for  the  latter  no  spot  more  favor- 


84 


APPENDIX. 


able  than  '  ffisherman's  field '  could  be  found  on  our  shores,  as  it  is 
less  rocky  than  any  other  tract  of  equal  extent  on  the  borders  of  the 
harbor.     It  was  also  convenient  for  their  fishery. 

Many  of  the  first  settlers  of  Gloucester  who  resided  at  the  harbor, 
received  grants  of  land  in  '  flisherman's  field  ; '  finding  probably  in 
its  state  of  preparation  for  cultivation,  a  compensation  for  its  incon- 
venient distance  from  their  homes.  It  may  be  suggested  that  these 
grantors  were  fishermen,  and  that  the  spot  derived  its  name  from  that 
circumstance ;  in  answer  to  which  it  may  be  said,  that  none  of  them 
are  known  to  have  been  of  that  occupation,  while  it  is  certain  that  the 
chief  employment  of  most  of  the  early  settlers  here  was  upon  the  soil, 
and  hot  upon  the  sea.  The  records  authorize  an  inference  that  many 
of  them  were  employed  in  the  forest  and  the  ship-yard. 

Current  tradition,  then,  and  the  names  applied  to  that  locality,  leave 
no  room  for  doubt  in  my  mind,  that  'ffisherman's  field'  was  the  spot 
occupied  by  the  English  at  Cape  Ann  in  1624,  and  all  who  visit  it  may 
find  an  interesting  subject  of  thought,  in  reflecting  upon  the  care  that 
nurtured  and  the  heroism  that  defended  the  feeble  germ  there  planted, 
through  every  stage  of  its  growth  to  a  vigorous  and  happy  maturity. 

Yours,  very  truly, 

John  J.  Babson." 


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